Psalms — Chapter 101

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1A Psalm of David. I will sing of Your loving devotion and justice; to You, O LORD, I will sing praises.

2I will ponder the way that is blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.

3I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

4A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know nothing of evil.

5Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

6My eyes favor the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way of integrity shall minister to me.

7No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who tells lies shall stand in my presence.

8Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

1I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

2I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

3I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

4A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

5Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

6Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

7He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

8I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

1I will sing of lovingkindness and justice: Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I sing praises.

2I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way: Oh when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

3I will set no base thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; It shall not cleave unto me.

4A perverse heart shall depart from me: I will know no evil thing.

5Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I destroy: Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer.

6Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall minister unto me.

7He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes.

8Morning by morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land; To cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of Jehovah. Psalm 102 A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah.

1A psalm of David. I will sing about loyalty and justice. To you, O Lord, I will sing praises.

2I will walkin the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will conduct my business with integrity in the midst of my palace.

3I will not even consider doing what is dishonest. I hate doing evil; I will have no part of it.

4I will have nothing to do with a perverse person; I will not permit evil.

5I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret. I will not tolerate anyone who has a haughty demeanor and an arrogant attitude.

6I will favor the honest people of the land and allow them to live with me. Those who walk in the way of integrity will attend me.

7Deceitful people will not live in my palace. Liars will not be welcome in my presence.

8Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

1I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.

2I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.

3I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.

4A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil.

5I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.

6My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me.

7He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.

8Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.

Summary
Authorship & Background
Commentary
Videos
Articles
Reflection

Summary

A royal psalm in which David pledges to sing of God's mercy and justice and to pursue personal integrity, praying for God's presence as he seeks to walk with a blameless heart within his own house (vv. 1-2). He resolves to refuse anything wicked, to reject perverse and deceitful people, and to have no tolerance for slander, arrogance, or dishonesty among those close to him (vv. 3-5). Instead he will surround himself with the faithful and blameless, while working daily to remove the wicked from his household and from the city of the LORD (vv. 6-8).

Authorship & Background

Author: Multiple authors — primarily David (73 psalms attributed), plus Asaph (12), Sons of Korah (11), Solomon (2), Moses (1), Heman (1), Ethan (1), and anonymous. The Psalter was compiled over approximately 1000 years and served as Israel's hymnal and prayer book. The book is divided into five 'books' (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150), paralleling the five books of Moses.
Classification: Royal Psalm / Psalm of Personal Commitment
Attributed Author: David (superscription: "A Psalm of David")
Key Themes: Integrity of leadership, personal holiness, justice in governance, choosing righteous company, rejecting wickedness, the king's moral commitments
Historical Context: Psalm 101 is David's "code of conduct" for his reign — essentially a royal manifesto of integrity. It reads like a coronation oath or a king's pledge to God about how he will govern. David makes a series of "I will" declarations covering both his private life (within his house) and public duties (governing the city of the LORD). This psalm likely dates from early in David's reign, perhaps when he established Jerusalem as capital and brought the ark there. It has been called "The Ruler's Psalm" and "The Prince's Psalm" — a model for any leader who desires to honor God in their position of authority. Augustine reportedly said he sang this psalm daily.
I Will Sing of Mercy and Judgment (v.1): I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. The two words name the pair a ruler has to hold together, and the psalm that follows is a king's own account of how he intends to. Every main clause from here to the end is first person future, which makes this a vow rather than a report.
I Will Walk Within My House with a Perfect Heart (vv.2-4): I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Perfect renders tamim, whole or undivided, not flawless, and the distinction matters for reading the rest. Then an interruption that sits oddly in a list of resolutions, O when wilt thou come unto me, as though the vow needed help to keep. The commitments narrow to the private house and to the eyes, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes, and end with the inner disposition, a froward heart shall depart from me.
He That Worketh Deceit Shall Not Dwell Within My House (vv.5-7): Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off. The vow turns outward to the court and to appointments, and the offenses singled out are all offenses of speech and bearing rather than violence, the secret slanderer, the high look and proud heart, the worker of deceit, the teller of lies. The positive side is a hiring policy, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. Read against the record this is the psalm's real difficulty, since David kept Joab in office for a lifetime and himself arranged Uriah's death by letter. The vow is not therefore insincere; it is a standard the man who wrote it did not meet, and the psalter puts several of his failures on record elsewhere without withdrawing this.
The City of the LORD (v.8): I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD. Early can mean promptly or morning by morning, and the second sense fits a king holding court at daybreak. The last phrase gives the reason for the whole psalm: the city belongs to someone else, and the king is stating the terms he thinks its owner requires.

Commentary

  • Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Verse-by-verse commentary on this chapter, written for the everyday reader and freely available online.
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
  • Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Psalm 101 - A King’s Determination to Rule Righteously
David Guzik

Psalm 101 | Love and Justice | Bible Study
Spoken Gospel

Articles

  • GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of Psalms -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.

Reflection

  • Integrity Starts at Home (v.2) — David's first pledge is about how he lives within his own house, where no one else is watching. Does your character hold up at home the same way it does in public?
  • Guarding What You Look At (v.3) — David commits to refusing to set anything worthless before his eyes. What are you regularly putting in front of your eyes that you'd be ashamed to defend?
  • Choosing a Righteous Circle (vv.5-7) — David resolves to keep slanderers, the proud, and the deceitful at a distance while favoring the faithful. Who has influence in your life that you need to reconsider?
  • A Daily, Not Occasional, Commitment to Justice (v.8) — David describes pursuing righteousness fresh each morning, a daily discipline rather than a one-time decision. What would it look like for you to renew your own commitment to integrity every single day instead of only when it's convenient?