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I Will Set No Worthless Thing before My Eyes
Psalm 101 is a song of commitment. The speaker praises Yahweh, then makes careful promises about personal conduct, harmful influences, truthful speech and who may remain near him.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
In this psalm, the speaker addresses Yahweh directly in song. The passage moves from praise for loving kindness and justice to promises about blameless living, rejecting evil, dealing with slander and pride, welcoming the faithful, excluding deceit and cutting off wickedness from Yahweh’s city.
Psalms 101:1–8Main takeaway
This psalm joins praise to Yahweh with deliberate choices about what the speaker welcomes, rejects and permits around him.
Explore the poem and its images
01A song shaped by loving kindness and justiceThe psalm opens with singing to Yahweh. The speaker praises “loving kindness and justice”, so the commitments that follow are not separate from worship.
Explanation
The psalm opens with singing to Yahweh. The speaker praises “loving kindness and justice”, so the commitments that follow are not separate from worship. This song is about the kind of life and rule that fit what the speaker praises in Yahweh. The whole passage is framed as a response directed to him.
02A blameless heart before YahwehThe speaker says he will be careful to live a blameless life and to walk within his house with a blameless heart.
Explanation
The speaker says he will be careful to live a blameless life and to walk within his house with a blameless heart. In the middle of that resolve he asks, “When will you come to me?” The text does not explain why he asks it, but it shows these commitments are spoken directly to Yahweh.
03Refusing corrupt influences and evilThe speaker will set no vile thing before his eyes and hates the deeds of faithless men, saying such deeds will not cling to him.
Explanation
The speaker will set no vile thing before his eyes and hates the deeds of faithless men, saying such deeds will not cling to him. He adds that a perverse heart will be far from him and that he will have nothing to do with evil. The psalm moves from what he sees to what he rejects inwardly and outwardly.
04Slander, pride, faithfulness and deceitSpecific behaviours are then named. Secret slander will be silenced, and arrogance and conceit will not be tolerated.
Explanation
Specific behaviours are then named. Secret slander will be silenced, and arrogance and conceit will not be tolerated. In contrast, the speaker’s eyes are on the faithful, and one who walks in a perfect way may dwell and serve with him. Deceit and falsehood, however, will not remain in his house or before his eyes.
05Morning by morning judgementThe psalm ends with strong judgement language. Morning by morning, the speaker says he will destroy all the wicked of the land and cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.
Explanation
The psalm ends with strong judgement language. Morning by morning, the speaker says he will destroy all the wicked of the land and cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city. The verse stresses repeated action against wickedness, ending the song with seriousness rather than softness.
Questions to explore
01What does the psalm connect with singing to Yahweh at the beginning?
Look at the two qualities named in the first verse and consider how the later promises match them.
02How does Psalms 101:2 combine careful living with direct speech to Yahweh?
Notice both the promise to live blamelessly in the house and the question, “When will you come to me?”
03How does the psalm contrast the faithful with people marked by deceit and falsehood?
Compare who may dwell and serve with who will not dwell or be established before the speaker’s eyes.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 101:1–8
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 arrogant 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.