Psalms 26:5

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

American King James Version (AKJV)

I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

American Standard Version (ASV)

I hate the assembly of evil-doers, And will not sit with the wicked.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

I have been a hater of the band of wrongdoers, and I will not be seated among sinners.

Webster's Revision

I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

World English Bible

I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.

English Revised Version (ERV)

I hate the congregation of evil-doers, and will not sit with the wicked.

Clarke's Psalms 26:5 Bible Commentary

I have hated the congregation of evil doers - I have never made one in the crowds of discontented persons; persons who, under pretense of rectifying what was wrong in the state, strove to subvert it, to breed general confusion, to overturn the laws, seize on private property, and enrich themselves by the spoils of the country.

Barnes's Psalms 26:5 Bible Commentary

I have hated - We have here the same evidence of his piety repeated in another and a stronger form. In the previous verse he had merely stated that he had not been found among that class of persons, or that he had not made them his companions. He here says positively that he disapproved of their principles; that he hated the purpose for which they gathered themselves together; that he had no sympathy whatever with them.

The congregation of evil-doers - All such assemblages as were gathered together for wicked purposes, for sin and revelry; to plot wickedness; to injure men; to oppose God.

And will not sit with the wicked - That is, I will not be associated with them. This was the fixed purpose of his soul; and this was then, as it is now, an evidence of true piety. This, moreover, is an "indispensable" evidence of piety. He who does thus sit with the wicked; who makes them his companions and friends; who unites with them in their plans and purposes; who partakes with them in their special amusements and pursuits, cannot possibly be a pious man. If he mingles with such people at all, it must be only as demanded by the necessities of social or civil life; or in the transactions of business; or for the purpose of doing them good. If it is for other purposes, if he makes them his chosen companions and friends, he gives the clearest evidence that his heart is with them, and that it is not with God.