Psalms 26:5
I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.
BSB
ASV
I hate the assembly of evil-doers, And will not sit with the wicked.
KJV
I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
I have hated the congregation of evildoers,.... That do harm to the persons, characters, or properties of men; and who meet together in bodies, to consult and form schemes to do mischief, and have their assemblies to encourage each other in it; these, their works and actions, the psalmist hated, though not their persons; and showed his displicency at them, and dislike and disapprobation of them, by absenting from them; see Jer 15:17; and will not sit with the wicked; ungodly and unrighteous men, sons of Belial; for with such what fellowship and concord can there be?
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.
I have hated the congregation of evil doers. A severe sentence, but not too severe. A man who does not hate evil terribly, does not love good heartily. Men, as men, we must always love, for they are our neighbours, and therefore to be loved as ourselves; but evil doers, as such, are traitors to the Great King, and no loyal subject can love traitors. What God hates we must hate.
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
Psalms 31:6I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.
leads to
Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.
But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!