Psalms 50:17
in Psalms 50For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Seeing that thou hatest instruction, And castest my words behind thee?
KJV
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
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This verse in Psalms 50
Commentary
15 notes on this verseSeeing thou hatest instruction. Profane professors are often too wise to learn, too besotted with conceit to be taught of God. What a monstrosity that men should declare those statutes which with their hearts they do not know, and which in their lives they openly disavow! Woe unto the men who hate the instruction which they take upon themselves to give. And castest my words behind thee. Despising them, throwing them away as worthless, putting them out of sight as obnoxious.
This site's exposition
To the wicked, however, God says
on Psalms 50:16-21
To the wicked, however, God says turns on a second group. They recite His statutes while hating His instruction, and the list is concrete: a thief befriended, a lot thrown in with adulterers, a mouth loosed for evil, and a brother maligned. God kept silent, and they thought He was just like them, so now He rebukes them to their face.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
"But thou hatest instruction." Thou hatest discipline. When I spare, thou singest and praisest: when I chasten, thou murmurest: as though, when I spare, I am thy God: and, when I chasten, I am not thy God. "I rebuke and chasten those whom I love." "But thou hatest instruction: and hast thrown My sayings behind thee." The words that are said through thee, thou throwest behind thee. "And thou hast thrown My sayings behind thee:" to a place where they may not be seen by thee, but may load thee. "And thou hast thrown My sayings behind thee."
"But thou hatest instruction." Thou hatest discipline. When I spare, thou singest and praisest: when I chasten, thou murmurest: as though, when I spare, I am thy God: and, when I chasten, I am not thy God. "I rebuke and chasten those whom I love." "But thou hatest instruction: and hast thrown My sayings behind thee." The words that are said through thee, thou throwest behind thee. "And thou hast thrown My sayings behind thee:" to a place where they may not be seen by thee, but may load thee. "And thou hast thrown My sayings behind thee."
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 1 -- Prologue · Written before 523.
proposed
If a man is constant in reading, and in hearing, and in the meditation of the word of God, and yet perfecteth not by his reading the labour of works, against this man hath the Spirit of God spoken by the hand of the blessed …
Discipline is the moderation of the emotions.
Not only do you not show any benefit from the teaching of the law, but even what you have by nature you have mutilated. The reasoning for what should be done and should not be done is set within us by nature, but you rejected it and had no recollection of it.
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
"But you have hated discipline." Here he shows the evils that sinners commit. And they commit two evils: the first is that they hate divine correction. Hence he says, "But you have hated discipline." This correction of morals is accomplished through difficult things. Heb. 12: …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
19 ); but in their conversations they cast God's word behind them, and did not care for seeing that rule which they were resolved not to be ruled by. This is despising the commandment of the Lord. (2.) A close confederacy with the worst of sinners (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number
Seeing thou hatest instruction,....
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
They are unworthy to use even the words of God's law. Their hypocrisy and vice are exposed by illustrations from sins against the seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments. God, no longer (even in appearance) disregarding such, exposes their sins and threatens a terrible punishment.
Seeing thou hatest instruction. Profane professors are often too wise to learn, too besotted with conceit to be taught of God. What a monstrosity that men should declare those statutes which with their hearts they do not know, and which in their lives they openly disavow! Woe unto the men who hate the instruction which they take upon themselves to give. And castest my words behind thee. Despising them, throwing them away as worthless, putting them out of sight as obnoxious. Many boasters of the law did this practically; and in these last days there are pickers and choosers of God's words who cannot endure the practical part of Scripture; they are disgusted at duty, they abhor responsibility, they disembowel texts of their plain meanings, they wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. It is an ill sign when a man dares not look a Scripture in the face, and an evidence of brazen impudence when he tries to make it mean something less condemnatory of his sins, and endeavours to prove it to be less sweeping in its demands. How powerful is the argument that such men have no right to take the covenant of God into their mouths, seeing that its spirit does not regulate their lives!
Here the Lord turns to the manifestly wicked among his people; and such there were even in the highest places of his sanctuary. If moral formalists had been rebuked, how much more these immoral pretenders to fellowship with heaven? If the lack of heart spoiled the worship of the more decent and virtuous, how much more would violations of the law, committed with a high hand, corrupt the sacrifices of the wicked?
Seeing thou hatest instruction - All these rejected the counsel of God against themselves; and refused to receive the instructions of Christ.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Seeing thou hatest instruction - That is, He is unwilling himself to be taught. He will not learn the true nature of religion, and yet he presumes to instruct others. Compare the notes at Rom 2:21. And castest my words behind thee - He treated them with contempt, or as unworthy of attention. He did not regard them as worthy of being “retained,” but threw them contemptuously away.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֭אַתָּה | veatah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| שָׂנֵ֣אתָ | saneta | you hate | H8130 → | 146 times |
| מוּסָ֑ר | musar | discipline | H4148 → | |
| וַתַּשְׁלֵ֖ךְ | vatashlekh | and you have thrown | H7993 → | 125 times |
| דְּבָרַ֣י | devarai | words my | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אַחֲרֶֽיךָ׃ | ʾachareikha | behind you | H310 → | 715 times |
וְ֭אַתָּהand you
veatahH859 →1094 times
שָׂנֵ֣אתָyou hate
sanetaH8130 →146 times
מוּסָ֑רdiscipline
musarH4148 →
וַתַּשְׁלֵ֖ךְand you have thrown
vatashlekhH7993 →125 times
דְּבָרַ֣יwords my
devaraiH1697 →1440 times
אַחֲרֶֽיךָ׃behind you
ʾachareikhaH310 →715 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
Proverbs 12:1Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:10
Discipline is harsh for him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die.
- Proverbs 9:7–8
He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.
- Psalms 119:97–100
Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.
- Proverbs 5:12–13
and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
- Proverbs 18:1
He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.
- Proverbs 15:10
Through
Nehemiah 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 14:9
You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.
- Judges 2:11–12
And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
- Nehemiah 9:18
Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,
- 1 Kings 14:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 13 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 50; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Evagrius Ponticus, NOTES ON THE PSALMS 49[50].17; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 50:7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 1 -- Prologue and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.