Bible Strands
Psalms 73:27
Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly after concluding a period of observing the wicked’s prosperity, using the moment to reaffirm his reliance on divine presence. He speaks as a believer drawing a final boundary between himself and those who have abandoned covenant loyalty.
The words — The Hebrew term רְחֵקֶ֣י/ךָ (re.che.Kei./cha) denotes those who remain distant from God, while זוֹנֶ֥ה (zo.Neh) literally describes one acting as a prostitute, symbolizing spiritual unfaithfulness. These terms frame the verse’s warning around relational distance and covenant betrayal.
The thread — The connection between spiritual distance and ruin appears in Psalm 119:155, which states salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek God’s statutes. James 4:4 explicitly equates friendship with the world with hostility toward God, reinforcing the same causal link.
Why it lands — The text demands a deliberate choice to draw near to God rather than maintain distance or compromise allegiance. It requires the reader to accept that spiritual survival depends on active fidelity, not passive association.
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
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Cross-references
- James 4:4 You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- Psalms 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek Your statutes.
- Exodus 34:15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
- Numbers 15:39 These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.
- Psalms 106:39 They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
- Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- Job 21:14 Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
- Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
- Jeremiah 12:2 You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
- Matthew 15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: