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Psalms 26

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Plea for Vindication and Judgment 1–3

1
A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. ​
2
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. ​
3
For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth. ​

Separation from the Wicked 4–5

4
I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.
5
I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

Commitment to Pure Worship 6–8

6
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD: ​
7
That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
8
LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. ​

Final Petition and Assurance 9–12

9
Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
10
In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.
11
But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. ​
12
My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalm 26

Verse 1

Judge me, O LORD — Shaphat is to judge and so to give sentence, here a plea to be vindicated, as in Ps 7:8, ‘judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness’. ‘Integrity’ is tom, completeness, and he has ‘trusted’ (batach). ‘Slide’ is maad, to totter; ‘none of his steps shall slide’ (Ps 37:31).

Verse 2

try my reins and my heart — Three verbs of testing come together: bachan, to assay as metals are assayed, nasah, to prove, and tsaraph, to refine in the fire. The reins are the hidden inner self (Ps 16:7), and ‘I try the reins’ is the LORD’s own claim (Jer 17:10). Ps 139:23 asks the same: ‘try me, and know my thoughts’.

Verse 3

thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes — Chesed is covenant love, kept in sight as the rule of the walk. ‘Walked in thy truth’ (emeth) is the prayer of Ps 86:11, ‘I will walk in thy truth’, and Hezekiah’s plea, ‘how I have walked before thee in truth’ (2 Kgs 20:3).

Verse 6

I will wash mine hands in innocency — ‘Innocency’ (niqqayon) comes from the root of ‘clean’ in Ps 24:4. The priests were to ‘wash with water, that they die not’ when they came near the altar (Ex 30:20), and the elders washed their hands over the slain heifer (Deut 21:6). ‘Compass’ is sabab, to go round the altar.

Verse 8

the habitation of thy house — Maon is a dwelling, and the ‘place where thine honour dwelleth’ is the mishkan, the tabernacle, where ‘the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle’ (Ex 40:34). ‘Honour’ is kabod, glory. The same love of the house is Ps 27:4, ‘that I may dwell in the house of the LORD’.

Verse 11

redeem me, and be merciful unto me — Padah is to ransom, to pay the price for release, and chanan to show favour. The vow, ‘I will walk in mine integrity’, repeats the claim of v.1 (tom). Peter names the price of redemption: ‘not… with corruptible things, as silver and gold… But with the precious blood of Christ’ (1 Pet 1:18–19).

Verse 12

My foot standeth in an even place — Mishor is level ground, the ‘plain path’ of Ps 27:11, and the answer to the fear of sliding in v.1. ‘Congregations’ (maqhel) comes from the root of the ‘congregation’ (qahal) of evildoers in v.5: the one assembly he has hated, the other he will bless the LORD in.