Psalm 119:104 NKJV
104
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
Loving Truth, Hating Falsehood
My Notes
Scripture: “Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” — Psalm 119:104 (NKJV)
My Thoughts
Spiritual maturity is marked not only by love for what is good, but by hatred for what is false. David’s words reveal a heart shaped by God’s precepts—a heart that has learned to discern between truth and deception, righteousness and ruin. The Word of God doesn’t just inform; it transforms. It teaches us how to walk wisely and how to reject every path that leads away from Him.
God’s precepts—His revealed truths—are the source of true understanding. They help us navigate a world filled with counterfeit wisdom and seductive shortcuts. The Christian life is not all sweetness, though it has its moments of divine beauty. We live in a broken world, and part of growing in grace is learning to hate evil as much as we love good.
David’s hatred of “every false way” wasn’t a passing emotion—it was a settled conviction. He had seen the ruin that sin brings, and he had resolved not just to avoid it, but to oppose it. This is the fruit of understanding: a holy aversion to anything that deceives, distorts, or destroys.
Consider these truths:
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Sin is a false way—it promises life but delivers death (Proverbs 14:12).
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The godly hate sin—not just its consequences, but its very nature.
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True hatred of sin is comprehensive—we hate every false way, not just the ones that inconvenience us.
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Understanding deepens conviction—the more we know God’s Word, the more we are equipped to resist temptation and stand firm.
David’s journey through Psalm 119 to this point shows a man growing stronger, bolder, and more joyful in the Lord. He has learned to love truth fervently and hate falsehood intensely. This is the mark of a heart taught by God—a heart that glorifies Him not only in affection, but in allegiance.
Cross Reference
And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ — Job 28:28 (NKJV)
Questions
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What “false ways” do you need to identify and reject in your life?
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How has God’s Word helped you grow in discernment and conviction?
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What does it look like to hate sin—not just avoid it—with a holy resolve?
Prayer
Lord, through Your Word I gain understanding. Teach me to love what is true and to hate every false way. Let Your precepts shape my convictions and guide my steps. May I grow in wisdom and walk in holiness, bringing glory to Your name. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
SUMMARY OF COMMENTARIES
In Psalm 119:104, David expresses that understanding is gained through God’s precepts, leading to a profound hatred for every false way. The commentaries below highlight that divine guidance brings true understanding, enabling one to discern good from evil. This understanding fosters a strong aversion to sin and falsehood, which David identifies as deceptive paths that ultimately lead to ruin. The relationship between knowledge and moral integrity is highlighted, with David noting that the more one understands God’s truth, the more one will turn away from sin.
Proverb for Today
My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” And call understanding your nearest kin, That they may keep you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words. Proverbs 7:1-5 NKJV
NOTE:Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 104, which is in the 13th section, which is called “Mem מ”. The website https://www.abarim-publications.com/Hebrew_Alphabet_Meaning.html defines the meaning of the letter Mem מ as: ם (mayim) means waters in the sense of a larger body (sea, ocean). It is suggested that the letter Mem מ looks like a wave. The letter Mem מ is written ם when it occurs at the end of a word, and מ when it occurs at the beginning or halfway through a word.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Through thy precepts I get understanding.” God’s direction is our instruction. Obedience to the divine will begets wisdom of mind and action. As God’s way is always best, those who follow it are sure to be justified by the result. If the Lawgiver were foolish, his law would be the same, and obedience to such a law would involve us in a thousand mistakes; but as the reverse is the case, we may count ourselves happy to have such a wise, prudent, and beneficial law to be the rule of our lives. We are wise if we obey, and we grow wise by obeying!
“Therefore I hate every false way.” Because he had understanding, and because of the divine precepts, he detested sin and falsehood. Every sin is a falsehood; we commit sin because we believe a lie, and in the end, the flattering evil turns a liar to us, and we find ourselves betrayed. True hearts are not indifferent about falsehood; they grow warm in indignation: as they love the truth, so they hate the lie. Saints have a universal horror of all that is untrue; they tolerate no falsehood or folly, they set their faces against all error of doctrine or wickedness of life. He who is a lover of one sin is in league with the whole army of sins; we must have neither truce nor parley with even one of these Amalekites, for the Lord hath war with them from generation to generation, and so must we. It is well to be a good hater. And what is that? A hater of no living being, but a hater of “every false way.” The way of self will, of self righteousness, of worldliness, of pride, of unbelief, of hypocrisy—these are all false ways, and therefore not only to be shunned, but to be abhorred.
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Enduring Word
Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. The understanding gained by the psalmist gave him discernment and the power to persevere and hate every false way. (Guzik)
Notably, the psalmist began this section with love; he ends it with hate. “The Christian life is not all sweetness…. It has its sweet moments, and there is incomparable beauty in God. But we still live in a sour, ugly world, and it is equally important to learn to hate evil as well as love the good.” (Boice)
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Albert Barnes
Through thy precepts I get understanding – A true understanding; a correct view of things; a knowledge of thee, of myself, of the human character, of the destiny of man, of the way of salvation – the best, and the only essential knowledge for man. This knowledge the psalmist obtained from the “precepts” of God; that is, all that God had communicated by revelation. This passage expresses in a few words what had been said more at length in Psalms 119:98-100.
Therefore I hate every false way – I see that which is right and true, and I pursue it. In proportion as I have a just knowledge of truth and duty, I hate that which is false and evil.
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John Gill
Through thy precepts I get understanding,…. Of the will of God; of his worship, the nature and manner of it; of his ordinances, their use and importance; and of his doctrines, and the excellency of them;
therefore I hate every false way of worship; all superstition and will worship, the commandments and inventions of men, and every false doctrine; all lies in hypocrisy, for no lie is of the truth; everything that is contrary to the word of God, and is not according to truth and godliness. The Targum is, “I hate every lying man.”
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Matthew Henry
The unspeakable profit and advantage he gained by the word of God.
(1.) It helped him to a good head: “Through thy precepts I get understanding to discern between truth and falsehood, good and evil, so as not to mistake either in the conduct of my own life or in advising others.”
(2.) It helped him to a good heart: “Therefore, because I have got understanding of the truth, I hate every false way, and am stedfastly resolved not to turn aside into it.” Observe here,
[1.] The way of sin is a false way; it deceives, and will ruin, all that walk in it; it is the wrong way, and yet it seems to a man right, Prov. 14:12.
[2.] It is the character of every good man that he hates the way of sin, and hates it because it is a false way; he not only refrains his feet from it (v. 101), but he hates it, has an antipathy to it, and a dread of it.
[3.] Those who hate sin as sin will hate all sin, hate every false way, because every false way leads to destruction. And,
[4.] The more understanding we get by the word of God, the more rooted will our hatred of sin be (for to depart from evil, that is understanding, Job 28:28), and the more ready we are in the scriptures the better furnished we are with answers to temptation.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” In this sentence, the prophet seems to invert the order set down in Psa 119:101. He had said, “I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word,” where the avoiding of evil is made the means of profiting by the word; here his profiting by the word is made the cause of avoiding evil. In the one verse, you have an account of his beginning with God; in the other, of his progress.
—Thomas Manton.
“Through thy; precepts I get understanding.” Spiritual understanding is connected with the taste of spiritual sweetness. (Compare Pro 2:10-11.) “The sweetness of the lips,”—as the wise man observes— “increaseth learning. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.” Pro 16:21, 23. Thus, having learned “the principles of the doctrine of Christ,” we are encouraged to “go on to perfection“—”growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.” For the connexion between “grace and knowledge” is clearly manifested.
—Charles Bridges.
“False way.” All sin is a lie. By it, we attempt to cheat God. By it we actually cheat our souls: Pro 14:12. There is no delusion like the folly of believing that a course of sin will conduce to our happiness.
—William S. Plumer.
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Additional Cross-References
Psalm 19:7 (KJV)
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalm 97:10 (KJV)
10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil:
He preserveth the souls of his saints;
He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
Romans 12:9 (KJV)
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
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מ MEM Loving the sweetness of God’s word.
97
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
101
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
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