Psalms 119:21
in Psalms 119You rebuke the arrogant— the cursed who stray from Your commandments.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, That do wander from thy commandments.
KJV
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 119
Commentary
9 notes on this verseTransgressors of the commandments merit eternal punishments. The Psalm: "Cursed are they who decline from Thy commandments": cursed, because it shall be said to them: "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."
This site's exposition
Deal bountifully with Your servant
on Psalms 119:17-24
He asks for open eyes to see wondrous things in the law, and calls himself a stranger on the earth. Then the trouble is named: rulers sit and slander him while he keeps meditating. The testimonies are his counselors when human counsel turns hostile.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"You have rebuked the proud: and cursed are they that do err from Your commandments" [Psalm 119:21]. For the proud err from the commandments of God. For it is one thing not to fulfil the commandments of God through infirmity or ignorance; another to err from them through pride; as they have done, who have begotten us in our mortal state unto these evils....But consider now, after saying, "You have rebuked the proud," he says not, Cursed are they that have erred from Your commandments; so that only that sin of the first men should come into the mind; but he says, "Cursed are they that do err." For it was needful that all might be terrified by that example, that they might not err from the divine commandments, and by loving righteousness in all time, recover in the toil of this world, what we lost in the pleasure of Paradise.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou hast rebuked the proud,.... Which some understand of the fallen angels, who, in proud wrath, left their habitations, because they would not be subject to the Son of God in human nature; wherefore he scattered them in the imaginations of their hearts, and cast down these mighty ones into hell, where they are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day.
The proud - Obstinate and presumptuous sinners, who sin with an high hand.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
"Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed." This is one of God's judgments: he is sure to deal out a terrible portion to men of lofty looks. God rebuked Pharaoh with sore plagues, and at the Red Sea "In the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord." In the person of the naughty Egyptian he taught all the proud that he will certainly abase them. Proud men are cursed men: nobody blesses them, and they soon become a burden to themselves. In itself, pride is a plague and torment. Even if no curse came from the law of God, there seems to be a law of nature that proud men should be unhappy men. This led David to abhor pride; he dreaded the rebuke of God and the curse of the law. The proud sinners of his day were his enemies, and he felt happy that God was in the quarrel as well as he. "Which do err from thy commandments." Only humble hearts are obedient, for they alone will yield to rule and government. Proud men's looks are high, too high to mark their own feet and keep the Lord's way. Pride lies at the root of all sin: if men were not arrogant they would not be disobedient. God rebukes pride even when the multitudes pay homage to it, for he sees in it rebellion against his own majesty, and the seeds of yet further rebellions. It is the sum of sin. Men talk of an honest pride; but if they were candid they would see that it is of all sins the least honest, and the least becoming in a creature, and especially in a fallen creature: yet so little do proud men know their own true condition under the curse of God, that they set up to censure the godly, and express contempt for them, as may be seen in the next verse. They are themselves contemptible, and yet they are contemptuous towards their betters.
"Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed." This is one of God's judgments: he is sure to deal out a terrible portion to men of lofty looks. God rebuked Pharaoh with sore plagues, and at the Red Sea "In the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord." In the person of the naughty Egyptian he taught all the proud that he will certainly abase them. Proud men are cursed men: nobody blesses them, and they soon become a burden to themselves. In itself, pride is a plague and torment.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thou hast rebuked the proud - This was done often in the case of David; and was true also in reference to the Babylonians, who held the Israelites in subjection, and whose kings were among the proudest of human beings. Instead of זדים zedim, the proud, some MSS. read זרים zarim, strangers, and one reads גוים goyim, the heathen; and so the Syriac.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou hast rebuked the proud - Compare Psa 9:5. The meaning is, that God had done this not by word but by deed. The proud were everywhere rebuked by God, alike in his law, and in his providence. The connection seems to be this: the psalmist is meditating on the benefit or advantage of keeping the law of God; of a humble, pious life. His mind naturally adverts to what would be the opposite of this - or to this in contrast with an opposite course of life; and he says, therefore, that God had in every way, and at all times, manifested his displeasure against that class of people. Such a course, therefore, must be attended with misery; but the course which he proposed to pursue must be attended with happiness. That are cursed - The accursed; those who are regarded and treated by God as accursed, or as objects of his disapprobation. Which do err from thy commandments - Who depart from thy law. The sense is, “I propose and intend to keep thy law. As a motive to this, I look at the consequences which must follow from disobeying it. I see it everywhere in the divine treatment of those who do disregard that law. They are subject to the displeasure - the solemn rebuke - of God. So all must be who disregard his law; and it is my purpose not to be found among their number.”
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גָּ֭עַרְתָּ | gaarta | you rebuke | H1605 → | 14 times |
| זֵדִ֣ים | zedim | arrogant [people] | H2086 → | 13 times |
| אֲרוּרִ֑ים | ʾarurim | cursed [people] | H779 → | |
| הַ֝שֹּׁגִים | hashogim | who go astray | H7686 → | 21 times |
| מִמִּצְוֹתֶֽיךָ׃ | mimitzvoteikha | from commandments your | H4687 → | 181 times |
גָּ֭עַרְתָּyou rebuke
gaartaH1605 →14 times
זֵדִ֣יםarrogant [people]
zedimH2086 →13 times
אֲרוּרִ֑יםcursed [people]
ʾarurimH779 →
הַ֝שֹּׁגִיםwho go astray
hashogimH7686 →21 times
מִמִּצְוֹתֶֽיךָ׃from commandments your
mimitzvoteikhaH4687 →181 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
it leads to
- James 4:6
But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 3:34
He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.
- Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
- Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
- Philippians 2:3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
- James 4:6
Through
Luke 14:11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
it leads to
- Matthew 23:12
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 29:23
A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 18:14
I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Matthew 23:12
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 119; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 6; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.