Psalms 18:23

18:23 I was innocent before him,

and kept myself from sinning. ¹ 

Psalms 18:26

18:26 You prove to be reliable ²  to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive ³  to one who is perverse. ⁴ 

[18:23]  ¹ tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way.

[18:26]  ² tn Or “blameless.”

[18:26]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words.

[18:26]  ⁴ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted, crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4).