“Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.”
Let the arrogant be put to shame, because they subvert me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts. The petition against the wicked is paired with the psalmist's commitment to law-meditation ('I will meditate on your precepts'). This verse opposes contemplative obedience to wickedness.
Church Fathers on Psalms 119:78
1. From its commencement, dearly beloved, does this great Psalm exhort us unto bliss, which there is no one who desires not....And therefore this is the lesson which he teaches, who says, “Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord” Psalm 118:1. As much as to say, I know what you wish, you are seeking bliss: if then you would be blessed, be undefiled. For the former all desire, the latter fear: yet without it what all wish cannot be…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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