Psalm 101

A Vow of Integrity

A Davidic psalm.

I will sing of faithful love and justice;
I will sing praise to You, Lord.(A)
I will pay attention to the way of integrity.
When will You come to me?
I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.(B)
I will not set anything worthless before my eyes.
I hate the practice of transgression;
it will not cling to me.(C)
A devious heart will be far from me;
I will not be involved with[a] evil.(D)

I will destroy anyone
who secretly slanders his neighbor;(E)
I cannot tolerate anyone
with haughty eyes or an arrogant heart.(F)
My eyes favor the faithful of the land
so that they may sit down with me.
The one who follows the way of integrity
may serve me.(G)
No one who acts deceitfully
will live in my palace;
no one who tells lies
will remain in my presence.[b](H)
Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
eliminating all evildoers from the Lord’s city.(I)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 101:4 Lit not know
  2. Psalm 101:7 Lit in front of my eyes

A Promise to Act with Integrity

Of David. A psalm.[a]

101 I will sing of loyal love and justice;
I will sing praises to you, O Yahweh.
I will give attention to the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will walk in the integrity of my heart
in the midst of my house.
I will not set before my eyes
any wicked thing.
I hate the work of those who fall away;[b]
it will not cling to me.
A perverse heart will depart from me;
I will not know evil.
One who slanders his neighbor in secret,
him I will destroy.
One haughty of eyes and arrogant[c] of heart,
him I will not endure.
My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,
that they may live with me.
He who walks in the way of integrity,
he shall minister to me.
There will not live in the midst of my house
a worker of deceit.
One who speaks lies
will not remain[d] before my eyes.
Each morning,[e]
I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
cutting off from the city of Yahweh all evildoers.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 101:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
  2. Psalm 101:3 The term “those who fall away” is a rare noun. The verb from the same root is found in Psa 40:5(4)
  3. Psalm 101:5 Literally “wide”
  4. Psalm 101:7 Hebrew “be established”
  5. Psalm 101:8 Literally “to the mornings”