What Does Psalm 26:5 Mean?
I hate the assembly of those who do harm, and with the restless I do not sit.
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 have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.THE KEY
The refusal to sit is also a refusal to settle: the verse rejects making a home in the company it names.
THE MEANING
Your allegiance shows in the company you inhabit: the verse names a refusal of both a gathering shaped by evil and a settled place beside those who practice it. The verb rendered “sit” also means dwell or settle, so this separation reaches beyond one moment of attendance to the company you make your home among.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that presence among a group is neutral: to sit there can also be to settle there.
THE ROOT
אֵשֵׁב
eshev
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁב
y-sh-b
sit, dwell, remain, settle
The verb rendered “sit” also carries the sense of dwelling or settling. The refusal is therefore about more than posture: it reaches into whether this company becomes a place to belong.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: sit, dwell
יָשַׁב
This is the same root in its basic verb form, showing how sitting can carry the sense of making a place one’s dwelling.
moshav: dwelling, seat, settlement
מוֹשָׁב
This related noun makes the link between a seat and a settled place explicit.
קְהַל
qehál
GROWS FROM
קהל
q-h-l
assemble, gather as a community
The word translated “congregation” names an assembly or gathering; the word itself does not make that gathering good or evil. Its character comes from the people and their shared practice, which the verse identifies as doing evil.
ALSO GROWS
qahal: assembly, congregation
קָהָל
This noun shows the gathered community held inside the word translated “congregation.”
haqhel: assemble, gather
הַקְהֵל
This verb form shows the same root at work in the act of bringing people together.
THE PATTERN
Company can become a dwelling place, shaping the life a person settles into.
Flourishing is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of those who miss the mark, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers.The one who walks with the wise becomes wise; the one who grazes beside the dull is broken.Do not wander; bad company rots good habits.THE THREAD
Flourishing is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of those who miss the mark, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers.Psalm 1:1 uses the same root ישב (yashav) in “sitteth,” a verb that carries the sense of dwelling as well as sitting. It makes the connection visible: company can become the place where a person settles.
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