Daily Bible Nugget #337, Psalm 101:4

The Nugget:

Psalm 101:4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. (AV/KJV)

Psalm 101:4 A perverse heart, shall depart from me, A maker of mischief, will I not acknowledge; (Rotherham, Emphasized Bible)

Psalm 101:4 The false heart I will send away from me: I will not have an evil-doer for a friend. (Basic English)

It is helpful to read more than one English translation of the Bible to get a clearer understanding of the meaning of a verse. What is a “froward heart”? The word “froward” has about dropped out of our modern English vocabulary. Even the spellchecker tried very hard to change the word to read “forward”! The meaning of this word is clarified by the two additional English translations I cited: it means a “false heart,” or a “perverse heart.” In the cross references I provide below, I give a short Hebrew word study which will furnish still more insight into the meaning of the original Hebrew word used here. In any case, it describes a person who is surely headed in the wrong direction, a direction you do not want to go.

The last half of the verse declares “I will not know a wicked person,” clarified further by the translations “A maker of mischief I will not acknowledge,” and “I will not have an evil-doer for a friend.”

Sometimes young people get in trouble because they have or choose the wrong friends. Even adults can have that problem. Sometimes the motive behind wrong friendships has to do with the desire to be more popular. Sometimes young people desire to be a part of the “in crowd.”

Such wrong choices can set you back spiritually, morally, socially, academically, and financially.

Don’t mess up your life. Make wise choices when it comes to having friends. Follow the example the Psalmist sets before us in God’s Word, the Bible. Choose the kind of friends God will be pleased with so you can experience more of His blessing in your life.

From what I read from a wide variety of news sources, several of the young people this past year who suffered unfortunate and untimely deaths were in flagrant disobedience to the message of this verse, which is one of the reasons I chose it today. Young people who are thoroughly grounded in God’s Word will not make such bad choices in their friendships most of the time. It is certainly proper to establish contact with would-be friends so that you can share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with them, but until they are converted and their life is changed, you should not be imitating their bad example or associating with them on a close best friend basis! Young ladies who are Christians must be especially careful about the young men they choose to let associate with them. Young ladies, exercise the discernment the Lord has given you, and pray for more! Do not compromise your stand or your character one bit, ever. Young men, learn to live by the values presented in the Bible. Paul outlined these things carefully in 1 Timothy 4:12. Get hold of this verse (1 Timothy 4:12)! Make it your goal and rule of life. Obey it.

Scholars sometimes associate Psalm 101 with 2 Samuel 23:3, 4, 5, and say David wrote this Psalm upon his accession to the throne. That being the case, applying it here to the United States, even the President could benefit greatly from the divinely inspired advice this Psalm contains. Our current President, President Obama, has flagrantly violated the principles taught in this verse (Psalm 101:4). Maybe someone ought to alert President Obama that he could greatly benefit if he studied what I post here at this site devoted to Real Bible Study! The leaders you choose to work with you reveal much about your own character. To promise great transparency and then do the opposite reveals still more about your character. To fail to always tell the truth reveals a froward, deceitful, crooked heart, and is surely displeasing to the God of the Bible.

Parents, teachers, pastors, and other Christians in the church or neighborhood can have an impact for good by offering direction and guidance in these matters as they apply to young people. If more adults in the position to provide leadership, direction, or counsel to young people exerted their influence about this, young people would as a result surely benefit for time and eternity.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 612 for Psalm 101:4.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 657 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Psalm 101:4.

(3) Consult the cross references given in the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 392 for Psalm 101:4.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those three resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Psalm 101:4. A froward. Heb. iqqesh [(S#6141h), distorted; hence false (Strong); crooked, perverted (Pick); deceitful (Wilson): Rendered (1) perverse: Dt 32:5; Pr 8:8; 19:1; 28:6. (2) froward: 2 S 22:27; Ps 18:26; 101:4; Pr 11:20; 17:20; 22:5. (3) crooked: Pr 2:15]. Pr 2:12-15. *Pr 3:32. 8:13. 11:20. 1 P 2:18. not know. Ps 6:8. +**Ps 119:63, *Ps 119:115. +Est 1:12. Pr 9:6. 22:24. **Mt 7:23. Jn 8:46. *2 Cor 6:14-16. 15:33. *2 Tim 2:19. a wicked person. +*Ps 15:4. 45:7. Pr 14:35.

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