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PSALM 101

A Psalm of David.

1. I will sing of mercy and judgement; to you, O jehovah, will I sing.
2. I will act wisely in the way of the upright; when will you come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
3. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes; I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
4. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked man.
5. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbour, him will I cut off; him that has a high look and a proud heart, I will not suffer.
6. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the earth, that they may dwell with me; he that walks in the way of the upright, he shall serve me.
7. He who works deceit, shall not dwell within my house; he who speaks lies shall not abide before mine eyes.
8. In the morning will I cut off all the wicked of the earth; yea, I will cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of jehovah.

Verses 1, 2. I will sing of mercy and judgement, etc, etc. From the contents of these verses it will appear, that a distinction is made between a just man and a man of integrity, or uprightness; for a just man has a respect to the love of charity, and a man of integrity has respect to the truth of charity; hence also it is evident that he is called just who does good, and he is called a man of integrity or of uprightness who does truth derived from good, which also is to do justice and judgement. AC 612.

Verse 5. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbour, him will I cut off. By bearing false witness in a natural sense, is not only meant to act in the character of a false witness but also to lie and to defame, or to slander. By bearing false witness in a spiritual sense is meant, to assert, and to persuade others, that what is false is true, and that what is evil is good, and vice verse: but in a supreme sense, by bearing false witness, is meant to blaspheme the Lord and the Word: these are what constitute the bearing false witness in a threefold sense. That these several kinds of false witness make a one with every man who acts as a false witness, who tells a lie, and defames his neighbour, may appear from what was shown in the "Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture," in relation to the threefold sense of all that is contained in the Word, SS 5, 6, 7, and 57. Inasmuch as a lie and truth are two opposites, it follows that so far as any one shuns a lie as sin, so far he loves truth. So far as any one loves truth, so far he is desirous of knowing it, and so far he is affected in heart when he finds it; nor can any other attain to wisdom; and so far as he loves to do the truth, so far he is made sensible of the pleasantness of the light in which the truth is. The case is similar in respect to the subjects spoken of above; as in respect to sincerity and justice with him who shuns thefts of every kind; in respect to chastity and purity with him who shuns adulteries of every kind; and in respect to love and charity with him who shuns murders of every kind, etc. But he who is in the opposites, knows not any thing concerning these virtues; when yet they contain in them every thing that is any thing. Doc. of Life, DLife 87—89.

Verse 7. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house. Where to dwell in the house of jehovah, denotes to be and to live in the good of love, for this is the house of jehovah. AC 3384.

Verse 7. He who works deceit; see Psalm 52:2, 3, 4, Exposition.