Psalms 101:1-8·~1 min

I Will Set No Worthless Thing before My Eyes

David opens by singing of steadfast love and justice and by promising to ponder the blameless way. He longs for the LORD's presence, commits himself to integrity in his house, refuses worthless and faithless things, and says that perversity and evil will have no place with him.

A¹ Psalm of David. ²I will ponder the way that is blameless — ³I will set no worthless thing ⁴A perverse heart shall depart from me;

The psalm then names the kinds of people David will oppose and the kind he will welcome: secret slanderers, the proud, and the deceitful are excluded, while the faithful are favored to dwell and serve near him. The vow ends with the promise to remove the wicked from the land and cut off evildoers from the LORD's city.

⁵Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, ⁶My eyes favor the faithful of the land, ⁷No one who practices deceit ⁸Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land,

Section summaryDavid begins by singing of steadfast love and justice, then commits himself to a blameless way and to integrity within his own house. From there the psalm turns outward, rejecting slander, pride, perversity, and deceit while welcoming the faithful and promising to cut off the wicked from the LORD's city.

Role in the chapterThis section presents righteous rule as something that begins in personal discipline and extends into public judgment. It binds worship, inward integrity, and civic responsibility into one sustained vow before God.