Bible Strands
Psalms 50:18
When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses a covenant-breaker who has rejected His instruction and cast His words aside. He confronts the listener’s moral compromise immediately before detailing their corrupt speech.
The words — The Hebrew term וַתּירֶץ (vattireṣ) literally means “you were pleased with,” indicating active approval rather than passive observation. This connects to חלקך (ḥelekka), meaning “your portion,” which denotes sharing in the adulterers’ fellowship or fate.
The thread — The theme of moral complicity appears in Romans 1:32, where knowing God’s decree does not prevent approval of sin, and in 1 Timothy 5:22, which warns against hastily sharing in another’s guilt. The boundary against such alignment is reinforced in Hebrews 13:4, which commands honoring marriage and notes God’s judgment on adulterers.
Why it lands — The text demands that a reader examine whether they are actively approving or sharing fellowship with known sin rather than merely observing it. It requires immediate separation from corrupt alliances before speech and action compound the guilt.
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
When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Cross-references
- Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
- 1 Timothy 5:22 Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
- Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
- Job 31:9 If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
- Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.
- Proverbs 2:16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Proverbs 7:19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.
- Isaiah 5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
- Jeremiah 5:8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.