Psalm 50:17

Psalm 50:17, in plain English

You hate My instruction and actively reject what I've told you—you push My words away like they mean nothing to you.

Why it's here

This goes deeper than just ignoring God's law. There's active rejection here—contempt, even. You've heard God's word and deliberately decided it doesn't apply to you. That's not ignorance; it's rebellion.

Who's speaking

God, naming the active rejection beneath the hypocrisy

Where it sits in the story

Throughout the prophets, God grieves when His people reject His instruction. He sent messenger after messenger, and they were ignored or opposed. This pattern of rejection leads to judgment.

The scholarly reading

The wicked fundamentally reject God's moral instruction and deliberately disregard His words despite their ostensible covenant commitment.

Language and setting

The phrase 'you hate My instruction' (qāṭalṭā tô'ēb musārî) employs the strong verb ṭāʿâ (to hate with active rejection) alongside qālal (to despise). The phrase 'cast My words behind you' (wattaślik ʾaḥărekā ḏeḇāray) uses military/directional language suggesting deliberate abandonment. The verb šillik (cast) emphasizes violent rejection rather than passive neglect. This verse establishes that the wicked's problem is not ignorance but willful inversion—they know God's instructions and actively repudiate them.

Voice

God continues articulating the indictment against the wicked.

Significance

This willful rejection appears throughout prophetic indictments (Jeremiah 23:16-22; Amos 2:4-8) and becomes the epistemological problem Jesus addresses—not lack of information but refusal to align will with truth (John 3:19-20). It establishes that moral corruption flows from deliberate rejection, not circumstantial limitation.

15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

16To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?

17For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.

18When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.

19You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.

Read all of Psalm 50 — The Mighty One summons the earth and calls heaven as witness. He doesn't need your sacrifices — He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.