Psa 24:4 | NETfull | STEP | The one whose deeds are blameless and whose motives are pure, who does not lie, or make promises with no intention of keeping them.

Psalms 24:4

4 The one whose deeds are blameless
and whose motives are pure, ^{▼▼ Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.}
who does not lie, ^{▼▼ Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew mss support the ancient versions in reading a third person pronoun “his.” The idiom “lift the life” here means to “long for” or “desire strongly.” In this context (note the reference to an oath in the following line) “emptiness” probably refers to speech (see Ps 12:2).}
or make promises with no intention of keeping them. ^{▼▼ Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”}