Psalms 101 · The Lantern

A Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and judgment: to you, O LORD, will I sing.

I Will Set No Worthless Thing before My Eyes

I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cling to me.

A perverse heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that has a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who listened to her. But the most holy David, whose example you ought to follow, as all pray that you may, does not favor such people but was apt to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs.

With the proud of eye and the insatiable of heart, with such a one I did not eat. If anyone was proud or greedy, with such a one I did not eat at all.

He [Poemen] also said, "If a monk hates two things, he is able to free himself from the world, and these are," he said, "the gratifications of the body and vainglory."The same old man also said, "Wrath is a natural thing in a person, it is his nature, but it must be used to cut off evil passions.

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that tells lies shall not stay in my sight.

I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

Now if these words in the law, "Thou shalt have dominion over many nations, and no one shall rule over thee," were simply a promise to them of dominion, and if they contain no deeper meaning than this, then it is certain that the people would have had still stronger grounds for despising the promises of the law.

In the mornings I slew all the sinners of the earth. Well did he say, the sinners of the earth: for sinners are earthly. This is what he means, that the promptings of the devil, which he was suggesting to me, I cast out of my heart, and did not take up. For when evil thoughts are cast out, the demons are slain.

"In the morning I destroyed all the ungodly that were in the land. That I may root out all wicked doers from the city of the Lord" [Psalm 101:8]. This is obscure. There are then wicked doers in the city of the Lord, and they at present, seemingly, spared. Why so?

Psalms101

I Will Set No Worthless Thing before My Eyes