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Examine Me
Psalm 26:1-12
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About the passage
Psalms 26: An examined life at the altar
Psalm 26 is bold enough to ask for judgment and humble enough to ask for examination. The Book of Psalms places the speaker's claim of integrity under verbs of testing: examine, prove, and try the inward life. His separation from deceitful company is not social fastidiousness for its own sake; it is paired with love for God's house, clean hands at the altar, thanksgiving, and public praise. The poem repeatedly contrasts gatherings, hands, and places of standing. Violent people hold mischief and bribes, while the speaker washes his hands and circles the altar. Yet integrity never becomes a replacement for grace. Near the end, the same person who declares his walk asks, "redeem me, and be merciful unto me." The psalm closes on level ground among the congregations, with a life first submitted to scrutiny now imagined standing openly in worship.
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