Psalms 52:3
in Psalms 52You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking truth. Selah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou lovest evil more than good, And lying rather than to speak righteousness. [Selah
KJV
Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
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This verse in Psalms 52
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThou lovest evil more than good,.... Indeed not good at all; such comparatives being strong negatives; see Psa 118:8; a wicked man loves evil, and nothing else; his carnal mind being enmity to all that is good and lying rather than to speak righteousness; as appears by his affirming that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David, when he did not, 1Sa 22:10; and by suffering some things to pass for truths which were falsehoods, when it lay in his power to have disproved them: and such a lover of lies is antichrist; see 1Ti 4:
This site's exposition
You love evil more than good
on Psalms 52:3-4
Twice the psalm says you love, of evil over good and falsehood over truth, then of every word that devours. The charge falls on the appetite behind the deed, on what the man loves. Verse 4 addresses the tongue as the man himself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
There follows then what? All your might and all your thought of iniquity all the day, and meditation of malignity in your tongue without intermission, has performed what, done what? "As with a sharp razor you have done deceit" [Psalm 52:3]. See what do evil men to Saints, they scrape their hair. What is it that I have said? If there be such citizens of Jerusalem, that hear the voice of their Lord, of their King, saying, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:" that hear the voice which but now from the Gospel has been read, "What does it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and of himself make wreck:" [Matthew 16:26] they despise all present good things, and above all life itself. And what is Doeg's razor to do to a man on this earth meditating on the kingdom of heaven, and about to be in the kingdom of heaven, having with him God, and about to abide with God? What is that razor to do? Hair it is to scrape, it is to make a man bald. And this belongs to Christ, who in the Place of a Skull was crucified. [Matthew 27:33] It makes also the son of Core, which is interpreted baldness. [1 Chronicles 6:22] For this hair signifies a superfluity of things temporal. Which hairs indeed are not made by God superfluously on the body of men, but for a sort of ornament: yet because without feeling they are cut off, they that cleave to the Lord with their heart, so have these earthly things as they have hair. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
"You have loved." Here he treats of the affection of the wicked, or of the sinner, for harming his neighbor. And this affection consists in two things: namely, in external and internal matters. First, therefore, in external matters he shows the withdrawal of justice. He …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He accuses him of the wickedness of his tongue (that unruly evil, full of deadly poison) and the wickedness of his heart, which that was an evidence of.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thou lovest evil more than good. He loved not good at all. If both had been equally profitable and pleasant, he would have preferred evil. And lying rather than to speak righteousness. He was more at home at lying than at truth. He spake not the truth except by accident, but he delighted heartily in falsehood. Selah. Let us pause and look at the proud blustering liar. Doeg is gone, but other dogs bark at the Lord's people.
Thou lovest evil more than good. He loved not good at all. If both had been equally profitable and pleasant, he would have preferred evil. And lying rather than to speak righteousness. He was more at home at lying than at truth. He spake not the truth except by accident, but he delighted heartily in falsehood. Selah. Let us pause and look at the proud blustering liar. Doeg is gone, but other dogs bark at the Lord's people. Saul's cattle master is buried, but the devil still has his drovers, who fain would hurry the saints like sheep to the slaughter.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thou lovest evil - This was a finished character. Let us note the particulars: 1. He boasted in the power to do evil. 2. His tongue devised, studied, planned, and spoke mischiefs. 3. He was a deceitful worker. 4. He loved evil and not good. 5. He loved lying; his delight was in falsity. 6. Every word that tended to the destruction of others he loved. 7. His tongue was deceitful; he pretended friendship while his heart was full of enmity, Psa 52:1-4. Now behold the punishment: -
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou lovest evil more than good - Thou dost prefer to do injury to others, rather than to do them good. In the case referred to, instead of aiding the innocent, the persecuted, and the wronged, he had attempted to reveal the place where he might be found, and where an enraged enemy might have an opportunity of wreaking his vengeance upon him. And lying rather than to speak righteousness - He preferred a lie to the truth; and, when he supposed that his own interest would be subserved by it, he preferred a falsehood that would promote that interest, rather than a simple statement of the truth. The “lying” in this case was that which was “implied” in his being desirous of giving up David, or betraying him to Saul - as if David was a bad man, and as if the suspicions of Saul were wellfounded. He preferred to give his countenance to a falsehood in regard to him, rather than to state the exact truth in reference to his character. His conduct in this was strongly in contrast with that of Ahimelech, who, when arraigned before Saul, declared his belief that David was innocent; his firm conviction that David was true and loyal. “For” that fidelity he lost his life, 1Sa 22:14. Doeg was willing to lend countenance to the suspicions of Saul, and practically to represent David as a traitor to the king. The word “Selah” here is doubtless a mere musical pause. See the notes at Psa 3:2. It determines nothing in regard to the sense of the passage.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast and brag of the evil that you do, you who are mighty in Torah?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָהַ֣בְתָּ | ʾahavta | you love | H157 → | 211 times |
| רָּ֣ע | ra' | evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| מִטּ֑וֹב | mitov | more than good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| שֶׁ֓קֶר׀ | sheker | falsehood | H8267 → | 113 times |
| מִדַּבֵּ֖ר | midaber | more than speaking | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| צֶ֣דֶק | tzedek | righteousness | H6664 → | 119 times |
| סֶֽלָה׃ | selah | Selah | H5542 → | 74 times |
אָהַ֣בְתָּyou love
ʾahavtaH157 →211 times
רָּ֣עevil
ra'H7451 →662 times
מִטּ֑וֹבmore than good
mitovH2896 →538 times
שֶׁ֓קֶר׀falsehood
shekerH8267 →113 times
מִדַּבֵּ֖רmore than speaking
midaberH1696 →1141 times
צֶ֣דֶקrighteousness
tzedekH6664 →119 times
סֶֽלָה׃Selah
selahH5542 →74 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
John 8:44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.…
it leads to
- Acts 13:10
and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
- 1 John 3:12
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- 1 John 3:8–10
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the…
- 2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
- Acts 13:10
Through
Revelation 22:15But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:8
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
- Galatians 5:19–21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Philippians 3:2
Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh!
- Revelation 21:8
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 on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 52; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.