Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

PSALMS 119:21KJV
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Psalms 119:21 (KJV)

What does Psalms 119:21 mean?

Psalms 119:21 describes God’s response to people who proudly disregard his commands. The speaker says God has rebuked them and calls them cursed, placing them under God’s disapproval.

The speaker addresses God directly: “Thou hast rebuked.” Coming after the speaker’s request for understanding in verse 20, the statement contrasts the speaker’s desire to know God’s directions with the conduct of those who go astray from them.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 119:21

  • “proud” — זֵד (zed): The word often describes an arrogant or presumptuous person. In this verse, it points to more than taking pleasure in an achievement; it describes the attitude of those who stray from God’s commands.
  • “err” — שָׁגָה (shagah): The word can carry the sense of wandering or straying. It gives a picture of moving away from a path, here applied to God’s commandments.
  • “rebuked” — גָּעַר (gaʿar): The word can mean to rebuke or speak sharply against someone. It gives the statement the force of a firm expression of disapproval.

Why Psalms 119:21 matters

  • The verse joins the people’s attitude to their conduct. The phrase “the proud that are cursed” is followed by “which do err from thy commandments,” identifying the people under discussion as those who stray from God’s directions.
  • The wider passage shows why the speaker pays attention to God’s response. In verse 22, the speaker asks for reproach and contempt to be taken away and says, “I have kept thy testimonies,” meaning the things God has made known.

Where else these words appear

“rebuked” Hebrew H1605 · used in 13 verses

  • Genesis 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
  • Psalms 106:9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
  • Nahum 1:4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

“proud” Hebrew H2086 · used in 13 verses

  • Psalms 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
  • Psalms 119:78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
  • Isaiah 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

“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.

“cursed” Hebrew H779 · used in 52 verses

  • Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
  • Numbers 24:9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
  • Joshua 6:26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.