Psalms 81:12
So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
Study Note
Study Note
The divine lament 'so I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels' presents judicial abandonment as a form of divine judgment — releasing people to the slavery of their own desires rather than imposing external punishment. This is the Psalm 81 version of the Romans 1 'God gave them up' (paredōken, vv. 24, 26, 28) pattern: the most severe divine judgment is not external affliction but the removal of restraint that allows sin to reach its own catastrophic conclusions. The historical referent in Psalm 81 is Israel's Meribah-rebellion (v. 7) and subsequent idolatry — the failure to listen to God's voice (v. 11) results in God's withdrawal of his guiding hand. Augustine's concept of privatio boni (evil as the privation of good, resulting in the soul's self-destructive trajectory) provides the philosophical framework for this theological observation about divine non-resistance to persistent human self-will.
Other Translations
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, That they might walk in their own counsels.
And I send them away in the enmity of their heart, They walk in their own counsels.
So I gave them up to the desires of their hearts; that they might go after their evil purposes.
Cross References
And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the …
If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a …
But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen …
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken …
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil …
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book …
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,