Psalm 50:17 describes people who dislike being taught by God and who brush his words aside as if they meant nothing. The verse is a rebuke, not a comfort, and it names a specific attitude: refusing correction while still claiming to belong to God. It is spoken by God himself, through the psalmist, to those who appear to be religious but live in open contradiction to his covenant.
Since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
Psalm 50:17 (WEB)
What Psalm 50:17 Means
The verse opens with “since you hate instruction.” The Hebrew word translated instruction carries the sense of discipline, correction, or training, the kind a parent or teacher gives. To hate it means to resent being corrected, to bristle when someone points out a fault. God is saying that the people addressed have made up their minds not to be shaped by what he has said.
The second clause, “throw my words behind you,” describes deliberate neglect. Someone who throws something behind them has turned their back on it and walked away. The picture is of God’s words being ignored, set aside, and left behind as the person goes on with their own plans. Notice that the verse does not say these people never heard God’s words. It says they knew them and chose to discard them.
What the verse does not promise is any comfort for those who are ignoring God. It is a warning, and it is aimed at the heart’s posture toward correction. It does not spell out every consequence, but it makes clear that a person cannot treat God’s instruction as optional and still expect to stand in his presence.
The Context of Psalm 50:17
Psalm 50 is attributed to Asaph, a Levitical musician associated with temple worship. It presents God as a judge who gathers his people and speaks to them directly. The psalm first addresses those who offer sacrifices, insisting that God does not need animal offerings and wants thanksgiving and faithful vows instead. The people addressed in verses 14 to 15 are called to trust God in trouble and honor him.
Verse 16 then turns to “the wicked,” asking what right they have to recite God’s statutes while their lives tell a different story. Verses 18 to 20 list their actions: consenting to theft, joining with adulterers, speaking deceit, and slandering a brother. Read in this setting, verse 17 explains why such words ring hollow. The problem is not a lack of religious vocabulary but a refusal to let God’s instruction change conduct, which is why the rebuke lands so hard.
Key Phrases in Psalm 50:17
Proverbs 12:1
Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
(WEB)
This proverb sets the love of discipline beside the hatred of reproof, showing the same contrast Psalm 50:17 describes. Reading the two together clarifies that loving correction is a mark of wisdom, while resisting it is a mark of folly.
Hebrews 12:11
All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
(WEB)
This passage speaks of discipline as painful in the moment but producing a harvest of righteousness later. It helps balance the warning of Psalm 50:17 by showing that God’s instruction, though often unwelcome, is meant to bring life and peace.
A Short Prayer From Psalm 50:17
Lord, you know how quickly I can bristle when someone corrects me, and how easily I set your words aside when they ask something hard of me. Search my heart and show me where I have turned my back on your instruction. Give me a teachable spirit, a willingness to listen and to change. Let your words stay near me in every choice I make today. Amen.
