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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Psalms 18:23

for all his rulings were before me, I did not distance his regulations from me.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- The Topic Concordance - Obedience;   Recompense/restitution;   Rendering;   Uprightness;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Fire;   Psalms, the Book of;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Blameless;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Apocalyptic Literature;   David;   English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Jonah;   Perfection;   Psalms;   Salvation, Saviour;   Sin;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Light and Darkness;   A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography - Paulinus, Bishop of Nola;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - David;   Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Justice;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Nomism;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I was blameless toward himand kept myself from my iniquity.
Hebrew Names Version
I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
King James Version
I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
English Standard Version
I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt.
New Century Version
I am innocent before him; I have kept myself from doing evil.
New English Translation
I was innocent before him, and kept myself from sinning.
Amplified Bible
I was blameless before Him, And I kept myself free from my sin.
New American Standard Bible
I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my wrongdoing.
World English Bible
I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I was vpright also with him, & haue kept me from my wickednes.
Legacy Standard Bible
I was also blameless with Him,And I kept myself from my iniquity.
Berean Standard Bible
And I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity.
Contemporary English Version
I obey you completely and guard against sin.
Darby Translation
And I was upright with him, and kept myself from mine iniquity.
Easy-to-Read Version
He knows I did nothing that was wrong. I have kept myself from sinning.
George Lamsa Translation
I was also blameless before him, and I carefully kept myself from my sins.
Good News Translation
He knows that I am faultless, that I have kept myself from doing wrong.
Lexham English Bible
and I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt.
Literal Translation
For I was upright with Him and kept myself from my guilt.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Vncorrupte will I be before hi, & wil eschue myne owne wickednes.
American Standard Version
I was also perfect with him, And I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Bible in Basic English
And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For all His ordinances were before me, and I put not away His statutes from me.
King James Version (1611)
I was also vpright before him: and I kept my selfe from mine iniquity.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And I was sounde & pure towardes hym: and I was weery lest I shoulde offende hym with my wickednesse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I shall be blameless with hem, and shall keep myself from mine iniquity.
English Revised Version
I was also perfect with him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For alle hise domes ben in my siyt; and Y puttide not awei fro me hise riytfulnessis.
Update Bible Version
I was also perfect with him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
Webster's Bible Translation
I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.
New King James Version
I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
New Living Translation
I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin.
New Life Bible
Before Him I was without blame. And I have kept myself from sin.
New Revised Standard
I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So became I blameless with him, and kept myself from mine iniquity.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(17-24) And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity.
Revised Standard Version
I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.
Young's Literal Translation
And I am perfect with him, And I keep myself from mine iniquity.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.

Contextual Overview

20 He brought me out to an open place; he rescued me, because he took pleasure in me. 21 Adonai rewarded me for my uprightness, he repaid me because my hands were clean. 22 "For I have kept the ways of Adonai , I have not done evil by leaving my God; 23 for all his rulings were before me, I did not distance his regulations from me. 24 I was pure-hearted with him and kept myself from my sin. 25 "Hence Adonai repaid me for my uprightness, according to the purity of my hands in his view. 26 With the merciful, you are merciful; with a man who is sincere, you are sincere; 27 with the pure, you are pure; but with the crooked you are cunning. 28 People afflicted, you save; but haughty eyes, you humble.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

upright: Psalms 7:1 - Psalms 8:9, Psalms 11:7, Psalms 17:3, Psalms 37:27, 1 Samuel 26:23, 1 Chronicles 29:17

before: Heb. with

I kept: Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:30, Matthew 18:8, Matthew 18:9

Reciprocal: Nehemiah 5:19 - according to Job 1:8 - a perfect Psalms 19:13 - I shall Psalms 119:101 - refrained Isaiah 3:10 - they shall eat Isaiah 26:7 - way Isaiah 26:8 - in Luke 3:13 - Exact Hebrews 12:1 - and the sin 1 John 5:18 - keepeth

Cross-References

Genesis 18:4
Please let me send for some water, so that you can wash your feet; then rest under the tree,
Genesis 18:5
and I will bring a piece of bread. Now that you have come to your servant, refresh yourselves before going on." "Very well," they replied, "do what you have said."
Genesis 18:6
Avraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, three measures of the best flour! Knead it and make cakes."
Genesis 18:7
Avraham ran to the herd, took a good, tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.
Genesis 18:25
Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn't the judge of all the earth do what is just?"
Genesis 20:4
Now Avimelekh had not come near her; so he said, "Lord, will you kill even an upright nation?
2 Samuel 24:17
David spoke to Adonai when he saw the angel striking the people; he said, "Here, I have sinned, I have done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and against my father's family!"
Job 8:3
Does God distort judgment? Does Shaddai pervert justice?
Job 34:17
Should a hater of justice be in control? If you wouldn't tell a king, ‘You're a scoundrel!' or nobles, ‘You are wicked men!' then you shouldn't condemn the Just and Mighty One, <
Psalms 73:28
But for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made Adonai Elohim my refuge, so that I can tell of all your works.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I was also upright before him,.... In heart and conversation, being sincere and faithful; so David was in the sight of God; but this is much more true of Christ, in whom there was no unrighteousness nor guile, neither in his heart, nor in his lips; he was of perfect integrity, and faithful in all things to him that appointed him;

and I kept myself from mine iniquity; which some interpret of original sin, in which David was born, which dwelt in him, and prompted him to sin; but rather it refers to the taking away of Saul's life, which he might be tempted to do, as being his enemy that sought his life; and which he was put upon and urged to by some about him, and yet did it not. But it is best here also to apply these words to Christ; for though he had no iniquity of his own, yet he had the iniquities of his people on him, as their surety, and which he calls "mine", Psalms 40:12. But though he bore them, he did not commit any of them; though he was made sin, he knew none; and though he was tempted by Satan to the most enormous iniquities, as destroying himself and worshipping the devil, he kept himself from the evil one, that he could not touch him: the sense is, that he kept himself from committing any sin, which cannot be said of any mere man; and so far as good men are kept from sin, they are kept by the power of God, and not by themselves. All these things show, that the righteousness of Christ was a perfect, sinless one, entirely agreeable to the laws, statutes, and judgments of God; was pure in the sight of God, and rewardable in strict justice. Hence it is repeated as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I was also upright before him - Margin, with. The meaning is that he was upright in his sight. The word rendered upright is the same which in Job 1:1 is rendered perfect. See the note at that passage.

And I kept myself from mine iniquity - From the iniquity to which I was prone or inclined. This is an acknowledgment that he was prone to sin, or that if he had acted out his natural character he would have indulged in sin - perhaps such sins as had been charged upon him. But he here says that, with this natural proneness to sin, he had restrained himself, and had not been deserving of the treatment which he had received. This is one of those incidental remarks which often occur in the Scriptures which recognize the doctrine of depravity, or the fact that the heart, even when most restrained, is by nature inclined to sin. If this psalm was composed in the latter part of the life of David (see the introduction), then this must mean either

(a) that in the review of his life he felt it had been his general and habitual aim to check his natural inclination to sin; or

(b) that at the particular periods referred to in the psalm, when God had so wonderfully interposed in his behalf, he felt that this had been his aim, and that he might now regard that as a reason why God had interposed in his behalf.

It is, however, painfully certain that at some periods of his life - as in the matter of Uriah - he did give indulgence to some of the most corrupt inclinations of the human heart, and that, in acting out these corrupt propensities, he was guilty of crimes which have forever dimmed the luster of his name and stained his memory. These painful facts, however, are not inconsistent with the statement that in his general character he did restrain these corrupt propensities, and did “keep himself from his iniquity” So, in the review of our own lives, if we are truly the friends of God, while we may be painfully conscious that we have often given indulgence to the corrupt propensities of our natures - over which, if we are truly the children of God, we shall have repented - we may still find evidence that, as the great and habitual rule of life, we have restrained those passions, and have “kept ourselves” from the particular forms of sin to which our hearts were prone.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 18:23. I was also upright — The times in which David was most afflicted were the times of his greatest uprightness. Adversity was always to him a time of spiritual prosperity.

Mine iniquity. — Probably meaning what is generally termed the easily-besetting sin; the sin of his constitution, or that to which the temperament of his body most powerfully disposed him. What this was, is a subject of useless conjecture.


 
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