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Psalm 119:158

I look at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word.

156Great are your tender mercies, LORD. Revive me according to your ordinances.
157Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven’t swerved from your testimonies.
158I look at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word.
159Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, LORD, according to your loving kindness.
160All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever. SIN AND SHIN
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← Psalm 119:157Psalm 119:159 →
Notice

“Loathing” is a hard word for the psalmist’s response to faithless people, and he names their disregard for God’s word as its cause.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What do you make of loathing directed at people because they disregard God’s word?

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How do the pleas for mercy surrounding this verse affect your reading of its loathing?

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Where, if anywhere, does concern for God’s word shape your response to wrongdoing?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Acts 17:16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.Seeing faithlessness provokes loathing in the psalmist; seeing Athens full of idols provokes Paul’s spirit.
Psalm 139:21LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?Both speakers address God with strong aversion toward people whose conduct opposes him.
Psalm 119:136Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law. TZADHEBoth verses name the same cause, people disregarding God’s instruction, while expressing different responses: loathing and tears.
2 Peter 2:8(for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds),Both describe distress at witnessed wrongdoing: the psalmist sees faithless people, and the righteous man sees and hears lawless deeds.
Psalm 119:53Indignation has taken hold on me, because of the wicked who forsake your law.Loathing and indignation arise from the same concern in these verses: people forsaking God’s revealed instruction.
Luke 19:41When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,Both describe an emotional response to what is seen, though Luke’s verse does not name the cause of Jesus’ tears.
Genesis 6:6The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.Both describe a strong response concerning human beings: the psalmist feels loathing, while the LORD expresses regret and grief.
Ezekiel 9:4The LORD said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry …Both portray people distressed by wrongdoing around them, expressed as loathing in the psalm and sighing and crying in Jerusalem.
1 Samuel 15:35Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned for Saul. The LORD grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.Both passages record distress concerning people: the psalmist loathes the faithless, while Samuel mourns for Saul.
Mark 3:5When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, …Both describe a troubled response when looking at people: the psalmist feels loathing, while Jesus feels anger and grief.
Matthew 18:31So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done.Both describe witnesses distressed by others’ conduct, though the servants express sorrow rather than the psalmist’s loathing.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 119:156–159 aloud, including both pleas for life

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Encouragement

These words are spoken to God amid persecution and pleas for mercy. The speaker who loathes faithlessness still depends on God’s loving kindness for life.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 119:158. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 119 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).