What Does Psalm 101:3 Mean?
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the deed of those who turn aside; it shall not cling to me.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.THE KEY
The gaze is already a point of attachment: what stands before the eyes may become what clings to the self.
THE MEANING
Your gaze is not neutral: what is repeatedly placed before it can become what clings to you. The verse holds together a refusal of the work of those who turn aside and the claim that their work need not join itself to you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that exposure leaves you untouched, that you can keep a destructive thing before your eyes without it shaping what attaches to you.
THE ROOT
יִדְבַּק
yidbaq
GROWS FROM
דבק
d-b-q
To cling, adhere, or hold fast.
The same Hebrew verb, דָּבַק (dāvaq, “to cling”), describes a lasting bond with a spouse, attachment to the LORD, and a hand adhering to a sword. Here the verse says the work of those turning aside will not form that kind of bond with you.
ALSO GROWS
dāvaq: Cling or join in a lasting bond.
דָּבַק
The same verb describes intimate union, showing that “cleave” names an attachment that endures.
dāvaq: Hold fast or stay attached.
דָּבַק
The verb also describes chosen attachment to God, so the image itself is not negative; what matters is what takes hold.
dāvaq: Adhere so closely that the hand stays joined to the sword.
דָּבַק
This physical use makes the word’s force vivid: what clings is not a passing contact.
THE PATTERN
What the eyes admit and what the self holds close shape the direction and condition of the whole person.
Let your eyes gaze ahead, and let your eyelids be straight before you.The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light.Stand in awe of the LORD your God; him you serve, and to him you cling, and by his nature you swear.THE THREAD
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.דָּבַק (dāvaq, “to cling or cleave”) is the same Hebrew verb in both verses. Genesis uses it for a bond that makes two one flesh; the psalm’s refusal gives weight to what is at stake when something is allowed to cling to the self.
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