
“There is sprung up a light for the righteous, and joyful gladness for such as are true-hearted.” (Psalm 97:11)
I love that rendering of the very end of Psalm 97:11 in Miles Coverdale’s Psalter. Where other translations say “upright in heart” (NIV, ESV, RSV, NRSV, KJV), “true-hearted” points me in a slightly different direction. To be “upright in heart” means I choose God’s high road of righteousness and obedience. This is the right thing, but it can sound a little stilted or as if one is up on their high horse, if approached in the wrong spirit.
But “true-hearted” feels like a characteristic one would desire in the best of friends or colleagues. This is someone who does what is right because their heart is true. Their heart is aligned with righteousness. The are inside to outside the right and true kind of person
May You, Lord, make of me one who is true-hearted in Your ways and for Your glory.
Amen. Make me true-hearted, Lover of my soul.
🤩True hearted, is it the same as non hypocritical ?
Yes, that may be another helpful way of talking about what it means to be true-hearted. I also think of Psalm 86:11, where the psalmist asks God for an “undivided heart.”
Yeah, true😁