Psalms 50:17 Meaning: When We Hate the Instruction We Claim to Love
since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
Seeing that thou hatest instruction, And castest my words behind thee?
Yea, thou hast hated instruction, And dost cast My words behind thee.
Seeing thou hast hated correction and hast cast my words behind thee?
Meaning in one sentence
What does Psalm 50:17 mean? God confronts those who profess His covenant yet hate His discipline and reject His words. A call to examine our hearts.
Context
Psalm 50 opens with God summoning heaven and earth as He comes to judge His people. The first half of the psalm addresses those who think outward sacrifices are enough, people who go through the motions of religion without their hearts in it. Then the tone shifts. God turns to address the wicked, the hypocrites who take His covenant on their lips but live as if His commands mean nothing. Verse 17 is the heart of that accusation. God is not speaking to people who openly reject Him. He is speaking to people who use the right words, sing the right songs, and then treat His instructions as something to be thrown away.
Key Words
The Hebrew word for hate here is sane. It is not a mild dislike or a passing frustration. It is an active, settled rejection. The same word is used in Proverbs when the foolish hate knowledge and refuse the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:29). To hate instruction means to push it away before it can change you.
Instruction translates musar, a word that carries the weight of discipline, correction, and moral training. It is the painful but loving work of shaping a person into something better. To hate that is to refuse the very thing that could make you whole.
And then there is the image of throwing God's words behind you. The verb shalakh means to cast away, to hurl aside as something worthless. In I Kings 14:9 and Nehemiah 9:26, the same phrase describes people who turned their backs on God's law. Not just ignoring it, but treating it as rubbish. That is the picture: a person who holds the covenant on their lips but tosses it over their shoulder when it asks something hard.
How Christians Read This Verse
Commentators across traditions agree on the basic point: God is confronting hypocrisy. Calvin (Reformed) says the psalm exposes the error of those who reduce religion to ceremonies while ignoring the heart. Barnes (Protestant) notes that the person addressed is unwilling to be taught himself, yet presumes to instruct others. Gill (Baptist) emphasizes that these are people who teach one thing and do another, echoing Paul's words in Romans 2:21. The Cambridge Bible (Anglican) observes that the specific crimes listed after this verse break the commandments against theft, adultery, and false witness. What all these readings share is the conviction that claiming God's covenant while refusing His correction is a dangerous self-deception.
A common misunderstanding
Some read this verse and think God is scolding people who honestly struggle to obey or who find His commands difficult. In fact, the verse is directed at people who use religious language to cover up deliberate, ongoing sin. They are not weak believers being gently rebuked. They are hypocrites who say one thing and live another. The issue is not the struggle to follow God. The issue is the settled choice to hate His correction and treat His words as worthless.
Living This Out
Think about the last time someone pointed out something in your life that needed to change. A friend who told you the truth. A sermon that made you uncomfortable. A verse you wished wasn't in the Bible. What did you do with it? Did you let it sit in your mind and work on you, or did you push it away as quickly as possible? This week, take one area where you have been resisting God's correction. Just one. Do not try to fix everything. Bring it into prayer and ask God to give you a heart that does not hate instruction, but welcomes it. The goal is not to feel guilty. The goal is to become someone who holds God's words close instead of throwing them behind you.
Main takeaway: It is possible to say all the right things about God and still reject Him by hating His discipline and throwing His words away.
For Families
For ages 5, 8
God wants us to listen when He tells us something. When we do not want to be corrected, it is like saying we do not love Him. Let us ask God to help us listen well.
For ages 9, 12
This verse is about people who say they follow God but do not actually want Him to change them. They like the idea of being religious, but when God asks them to stop doing wrong things, they say no. It is like having a friend who only wants you around when you agree with them. God wants a real relationship where we let Him teach us and correct us, even when it is hard. That is what it means to truly follow Him.
Questions People Ask
What does 'instruction' mean in Psalm 50:17?
The Hebrew word is 'musar,' which means discipline, correction, or moral training. It is not just teaching in a classroom sense. It refers to the painful but loving process of being shaped by God into a person who lives rightly. To hate instruction is to reject the very thing that could make you better.
What does it mean to 'throw God's words behind you'?
It is a picture of contempt. You take something that should be precious and valuable and you toss it over your shoulder like trash. In the Old Testament, the same phrase is used of people who rebelled against God and turned their backs on His law. It means treating God's commands as unworthy of your attention.
Who is God speaking to in this verse?
God is speaking to people who claim to be part of His covenant. They take His statutes on their lips and profess to follow Him, but their lives tell a different story. The context (Psalm 50:16-21) shows they are guilty of theft, adultery, slander, and deceit. These are not outsiders, but insiders who have become hypocrites.
Is Psalm 50:17 about losing your salvation?
Psalm 50 is describing a judgment scene where God confronts people who are already living in rebellion. The verse warns about the danger of hypocrisy, but it does not directly address the question of whether someone can lose salvation. Different Christian traditions have understood salvation differently. What all agree on is that claiming to follow God while refusing His correction is a serious matter.
How does this verse relate to the rest of Psalm 50?
Psalm 50 has two main parts. First, God corrects people who think outward sacrifices are enough (verses 7-15). Then He turns to address hypocrites who use religion as a cover for sin (verses 16-21). Verse 17 is the key accusation against the hypocrites: they hate God's discipline and reject His words. The psalm ends by contrasting the hypocrite with the one who offers praise and lives rightly (verses 22-23).
For pastors & researchers
Hebrew interlinear, 8 commentaries & word study