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Psalm 101 is a royal resolve to walk in integrity. The king declares that he will sing of mercy and judgment, that he will be wise in a blameless way, and that he will not set before his eyes any unlawful thing. He hates the transgressor, drives away the proud and perverse, and resolves that the proud doer and the unjust speaker will not dwell in his house. He sets his eyes on the faithful of the land, and early he slays the sinners of the land to destroy all that work iniquity from the city of the Lord.

The spiritual center is the king’s determination that his rule will be marked by mercy and judgment, by personal integrity, and by the purging of evil from his presence. This is not self-righteousness but a covenantal commitment to reflect the character of the Lord who loves mercy and judgment.

Psalm 101 (LXX 100) - I Will Sing of Mercy and Judgment

Psalm Metadata

Field	Notes
NKJV / Masoretic numbering	Psalm 101
Septuagint / Coptic numbering	Psalm 100
Accepted author	A Psalm of David.
Period in author’s life	Attributed to David; the royal themes fit a concern for righteous rule, though the Psalm does not identify a particular occasion.
Christ prophecy status	Typological and Christological. The king’s resolve to sing of mercy and judgment, to walk blamelessly, and to destroy iniquity from the city points toward Christ, the righteous King who judges with mercy and truth.
Coptic lectionary/service use	A dated Matins reading for Thursday of the third week of the Holy Fifty Days includes Psalm 101:8. See The Church’s Voice in Worship below.
Numbering issue	This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 100. The selected reading prints Psalm 101:8, corresponding to LXX Psalm 100:8.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Psalm 101 is a royal Psalm that expresses the king’s personal and public commitment to righteousness. Its concern for mercy, judgment and an upright life belongs beside the covenant and wisdom teachings of Scripture. It also stands beside Psalms that describe the righteous king (Psalm 72, LXX Psalm 71) and the Lord’s judgment of unjust rulers (Psalm 82, LXX Psalm 81).

Christ is the way in whom His people walk (John 14:6). His warning to those who practice lawlessness makes judgment real (Matthew 7:21–23), while the vision of the New Jerusalem promises a city into which nothing defiling enters (Revelation 21:27). These connections do not turn the king’s words into permission for us to condemn our neighbors; they direct us to the righteous King and to repentance.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The geography is the house and the city of the Lord. The “midst of my house” and “the city of the Lord” are the spheres where the king’s integrity must be visible. The house brings personal and domestic life into view; the city brings public and communal life into view. The king’s concern for righteousness reaches both.

The Characters 👥

The Lord. The One to whom the king sings of mercy and judgment, the standard by which the king measures his walk.

The king (David). The one who resolves to walk in a blameless way, to hate the transgressor, and to destroy iniquity from the city.

The faithful of the land. Those who walk in a perfect way and minister to the king.

The proud, the perverse, the unjust speaker, the sinners. Those whom the king describes as driven away or destroyed because they work iniquity.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 100:1-2, I will sing to thee, O Lord, of mercy and judgment

100:1 A Psalm of David. I will sing to thee, O Lord, of mercy and judgment; I will sing a psalm, 100:2 and I will be wise in a blameless way. When wilt thou come to me? I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.

The Psalm opens with the king’s resolve to sing of mercy and judgment. Then, amid his words about a blameless way, he asks, “When wilt thou come to me?” His resolve does not replace his longing for the Lord’s presence. The walk begins in the heart and is tested in the house, where a public reputation cannot stand in for daily conduct.

Augustine of Hippo, a wider Christian exegetical witness, hears both God’s mercy and His judgment in the song. God’s present patience calls sinners to repentance; His future judgment is not to be dismissed. Mercy keeps us from despair, and judgment keeps us from taking that mercy for granted.

Theodoret of Cyrus reads the Psalm as David’s prophetic portrait of King Josiah. He notices a life in which private conduct and public appearance agree. This is Theodoret’s interpretation, not a date established for the Psalm.

The Christological reading looks to Christ, the righteous King, who perfectly fulfills mercy and judgment. He shows mercy to the repentant and will judge evil. He walks in perfect innocence in the midst of His Church. We come to Him not boasting of our own purity, but asking for mercy and grace to walk faithfully.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “I will sing to thee, O Lord, of mercy and judgment”; “I walked in the innocence of my heart.”
• Emphasize: the king’s song is both praise and resolve; integrity begins in the heart and the house.
• Avoid: treating the blameless way as self-righteousness. It is a covenant response to the Lord’s mercy and judgment.

Psalm 100:3-5, I have not set before mine eyes any unlawful thing

100:3 I have not set before mine eyes any unlawful thing; I have hated transgressors. 100:4 A perverse heart has not cleaved to me; I have not known an evil man, forasmuch as he turns away from me. 100:5 Him that privily speaks against his neighbour, him have I driven from me: he that is proud in look and insatiable in heart,—with him I have not eaten.

The king refuses to set wrongdoing before his eyes or let a perverse heart cleave to him. He drives away the one who speaks secretly against a neighbor and will not eat with the proud and insatiable. Slander can damage a person who is not present to answer; the king will not give it a welcome place at his table. This is not a prohibition on reporting harm discreetly to someone able to protect others.

Augustine distinguishes the person God made from the sin that must be resisted. He also asks how the refusal to eat with the proud is to be read when Christ Himself ate with Pharisees. At Simon’s table, Jesus challenged His host and received the woman who came to Him in repentance (Luke 7:36–50). Augustine warns against sharing in the proud heart’s pleasure at another’s misfortune. Refusing complicity in slander or greed is not the same as refusing love to a person. At times a prudent boundary is needed for correction or safety; it need not make the other person an enemy.

Theodoret’s reading of the king’s choice of company concerns Josiah’s companions and advisers. It is not a rule forbidding every encounter with someone who sins.

Psalm 100:6-8, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land

100:6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walked in a perfect way, the same ministered to me. 100:7 The proud doer dwelt not in the midst of my house; the unjust speaker prospered not in my sight. 100:8 Early did I slay all the sinners of the land, that I might destroy out of the city of the Lord all that work iniquity.

The eyes that refused an unlawful thing in verse 3 now look for the faithful. The king wants people of integrity near him to dwell with him and serve; the proud doer and unjust speaker are not to prosper in his house. His responsibility is not only to reject corrupt counsel but to seek faithful companions.

Verse 8 speaks in the hard language of royal judgment: the king slays those who work iniquity in the city. Christians also await Christ’s final judgment, but neither the ancient king’s words nor that future judgment license private violence, threats, vendettas or indiscriminate expulsion. The weak and vulnerable are not to be harmed or excluded under cover of holiness. Responsible boundaries and action to protect others serve safety and healing, not revenge.

Augustine reads the morning in relation to the Psalm’s opening. For now, God patiently gives time for repentance; after the night comes the dawn of final judgment. His patience is not indifference to evil. This is Augustine’s reading of the verse, distinct from Theodoret’s reading of the Psalm in relation to Josiah. Christ, the righteous King, calls us to return to Him and will judge in truth; the holy city belongs to Him.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

The themes of integrity, mercy and judgment, and the purging of iniquity resonate with the Church’s call to holiness and with feasts that celebrate righteous rule or the coming judgment. Such resonance is not, by itself, evidence that a passage is appointed for a particular feast.

In the dated Coptic Orthodox readings for Thursday of the third week of the Holy Fifty Days, 7 May 2020, Matins places Psalm 101:8 (LXX Psalm 100:8) beside Matthew 22:34–40. The Psalm reading describes an early destruction of all the land’s wicked people to rid the Lord’s city of those who do evil.¹ The Gospel gives Christ’s commandments to love God and one’s neighbor. Heard together, the readings do not erase judgment: they remind us that the Judge calls us to love, not to appoint ourselves executioners.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Psalm 101 connects with icons of Christ the righteous Judge, the king on his throne, and the separation of the sheep and the goats. The icon of the Last Judgment reminds the faithful that the King’s resolve to destroy iniquity from His city will one day be fulfilled in perfect justice and mercy.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

1. Sing of mercy and judgment. Thank the Lord for the mercy you have received, and entrust the judgment you long for to Him.

2. Walk in the innocence of your heart. Begin with the heart. Notice what you set before your eyes and how you act at home. Where you have sinned, return to Christ in repentance; seek confession and make amends where it is safe and possible.

3. Resist sin; love the person. Ask God to free you from delight in another’s failure. Speak truthfully and seek the other’s good, remembering your own need of mercy.

4. Refuse slander and greed. Do not carry a damaging story onward or join in wrongdoing. A wise boundary may protect someone or make correction possible; loving a neighbor does not require remaining in an unsafe situation.

5. Set your eyes on the faithful. Seek trustworthy people whose counsel helps you follow Christ. Protect the weak rather than excluding them, and leave final judgment to the Lord: this Psalm gives no permission for violence or a personal vendetta.

Teacher's Notes

• Timing: 10 minutes for the resolve to sing of mercy and judgment, 15 minutes for personal integrity in the house, 15 minutes for the eyes on the faithful and the purging of iniquity, 10 minutes for lectionary and application.
• Where to linger: Psalm 100:6-8.
• Key phrase to say slowly: “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me.”
• Pastoral warning: do not use the king’s resolve to justify personal vendettas or the exclusion of the weak. The purging is the King’s zeal for the holiness of His city, fulfilled in Christ.

Glossary

• Mercy and judgment: The twin attributes of God that the king must reflect in his rule.
• Blameless way: Integrity of heart and action before the Lord.
• Perverse heart: A heart that turns away from the straight path.
• Faithful of the land: Those who walk in a perfect way and are loyal to the king and to the Lord.
• City of the Lord: The community and place where the Lord dwells and where iniquity must be destroyed.

Translation and Source Notes

Embedded Scripture uses Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX), Psalm 100, as it appears in this study. The study title uses NKJV/Masoretic numbering first, Psalm 101, with LXX 100 in parentheses. The selected Matins reading prints Psalm 101:8; its wording is distinct from the Brenton text above.

Sources

Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 100; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 101, sections 1–4, 7–8, 11–12, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, volume 8, edited by Philip Schaff and condensed with annotations by A. Cleveland Coxe; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 101, sections 1–4, in Commentary on the Psalms, 73–150, translated by Robert C. Hill, Fathers of the Church 102, Catholic University of America Press, 2001, pp. 146–147.

Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: The dated Matins readings for 7 May 2020, cited above, provide the selected Psalm and Gospel pairing.

Footnotes

1. Coptic Orthodox readings, Matins for 7 May 2020, Psalm 101:8 and Matthew 22:34–40. The Psalm sentence in the worship paragraph paraphrases the dated reading rather than quoting it or the Brenton wording embedded above. ↩