Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.

PSALMS 119:118KJV
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Psalms 119:118 (KJV)

What does Psalms 119:118 mean?

Psalms 119:118 says that God judges people who stray from his laws, and that their deceit is falsehood. The verse addresses God directly, describing both the people’s conduct and God’s response to them.

“Trodden down” pictures the defeat of people who have turned away from God’s statutes. Following the speaker’s request for protection in verse 117, this statement expresses confidence that God will deal with those who go astray.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 119:118

  • “trodden down” — סָלָה (salah): This word can mean to reject or set aside. The KJV’s “trodden down” gives a vivid picture of God’s response to those who stray.

  • “err” — שָׁגָה (shagah): This word can mean to wander or go astray. Here, the people are pictured as leaving the path marked out by God’s statutes.

  • “statutes” — חֹק (choq): This word refers to an established rule or decree. In this verse, the rules belong to God, whom the speaker addresses as “thou.”

Why Psalms 119:118 matters

  • The verse connects straying with deceit. It moves from those who “err from thy statutes” to the judgment that “their deceit is falsehood.”

  • The speaker places God’s judgment alongside a personal concern for God’s rules. In verse 117, the speaker asks to be held up and says, “I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.”

Where else these words appear

“down” Hebrew H5541 · used in 4 verses

  • Job 28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
  • Job 28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
  • Lamentations 1:15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

“deceit” Hebrew H8649 · used in 6 verses

  • Judges 9:31 And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem; and, behold, they fortify the city against thee.
  • Jeremiah 8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
  • Jeremiah 23:26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

“err” Hebrew H7686 · used in 19 verses

  • Leviticus 4:13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
  • Job 19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
  • Proverbs 19:27 Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

“falsehood” Hebrew H8267 · used in 109 verses

  • Exodus 5:9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
  • Psalms 144:11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:
  • Jeremiah 8:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.