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Psalm 50:18
When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.
16But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
17since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
18When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.
19“You give your mouth to evil. Your tongue frames deceit.
20You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son.
Notice
Consent to a thief and participation with adulterers expose the gap between speaking God's covenant words and joining conduct that defies them.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What might consenting to a thief look like beyond taking something yourself?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, do your words about God conflict with what you approve?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 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
Romans 1:32who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.Both texts condemn approving wrongdoing as well as taking part in it.
1 Timothy 5:22Lay hands hastily on no one. Don’t be a participant in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure.The psalm accuses its hearers of participation with adulterers; Timothy receives a warning against participating in other people's sins.
Ephesians 5:7Therefore don’t be partakers with them.Both texts address sharing in others' wrongdoing, expressed as participation in the psalm and being partakers in Ephesians.
Job 34:8who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?Both texts describe company with people doing wrong, with the psalm naming consent to theft and participation with adulterers.
James 4:4You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world …Both texts use the language of adultery when confronting conduct that conflicts with allegiance to God.
Revelation 18:4I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues,Participation in others' sins is the shared concern: the psalm names it, and Revelation commands separation from it.
Hebrews 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.Both texts name adulterers as accountable to God, with Hebrews stating that God will judge them.
Proverbs 1:10My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.Consent is the shared word: Proverbs warns against giving it to sinners, while the psalm condemns giving it to a thief.
Obadiah 1:11In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for …Both texts count someone among wrongdoers through their response to others' acts, including the taking of another's possessions.
2 John 1:11for he who welcomes him participates in his evil deeds.Both texts treat support for someone doing evil as participation in that person's wrongdoing.
2 Samuel 11:4David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.The psalm names participation with adulterers; the David excerpt describes a sexual encounter, though it does not identify the woman's marital status.
1 Kings 21:16When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.The psalm names theft; Ahab takes possession of Naboth's vineyard, though this excerpt alone does not explain why that taking was wrong.
Where this verse fits
Temptation. guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Your choices about what to approve matter before God. In this accusation, speaking his covenant words offers no cover for sharing in theft or adultery.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 50:18. 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 50 · 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).