Psalms 51:5 (DRB)

Passage

Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

Nearby Context

Psalms 51:3 Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?

Psalms 51:4 All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.

Psalms 51:5 Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

Psalms 51:6 Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

Psalms 51:7 Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "hast", "loved", "malice", "than", "goodness", "iniquity", and "rather". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "hast", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "All the day long thy tongue hath..." into verse 6's "Thou hast loved all the words of...", so "thou" and "hast" belong inside that flow. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "hast" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.