Psalms 26:4
I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.
BSB
ASV
I have not sat with men of falsehood; Neither will I go in with dissemblers.
KJV
I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.
I have not sat with vain persons. True citizens have no dealings with traitors. David had no seat in the parliament of triflers. They were not his boon companions at feasts, nor his advisers in council, nor his associates in conversation. We must needs see, and speak, and trade, with men of the world, but we must on no account take our rest and solace in their empty society. Not only the profane, but the vain are to be shunned by us.
In all this David was a type of Christ, who, though he received sinners and ate with them, to instruct them and do them good, yet, otherwise, was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, particularly from the Pharisees, those dissemblers.
So far from being himself an open offender against the laws of God, the psalmist had not even associated with the lovers of evil. He had kept aloof from the men of Belial. A man is known by his company, and if we have kept ourselves apart from the wicked, it will always be evidence in our favour should our character be impugned. He who was never in the parish is not likely to have stolen the corn. He who never went to sea is clearly not the man who scuttled the ship.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 1:1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
leads to
I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD.
I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.
Through
Proverbs 13:20He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
leads to
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
He who listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
Through
2 Corinthians 6:17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
leads to
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.