Bible Strands
Psalms 119:21
You rebuke the arrogant—the cursed who stray from Your commandments.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God during a period of intense spiritual longing and a conscious commitment to preserve divine instruction. This declaration follows a plea for God's judgments and precedes a request to remove scorn for faithfulness to those same testimonies.
The words — גָּ֭עַרְתָּ (Ga.'ar.ta) denotes a formal rebuke or stern warning, while זֵדִ֣ים (ze.Dim) identifies the arrogant who act with defiant presumption.
The thread — This theme of divine opposition to those who abandon divine law appears in Psalms 119:10 and 119:118, which record the psalmist's own desire to avoid straying and God's rejection of those who do. The New Testament echoes the posture required to avoid this fate in 1 Peter 5:5, which commands humility as the safeguard against arrogance.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively rebukes the arrogant and the cursed who abandon His commandments, establishing a direct link between disobedience and divine judgment. A reader must recognize that clinging to God's statutes is not optional but the necessary boundary that keeps one outside the sphere of that rebuke.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
Cross-references
- Psalms 119:10 With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.
- 1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Psalms 119:118 You reject all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceitfulness is in vain.
- Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
- Psalms 119:110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from Your precepts.
- Jeremiah 44:28 Those who escape the sword will return from Egypt to Judah, few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah who went to dwell in the land of Egypt will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs!
- Malachi 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”