Psalm 34: Depart from Evil and Do Good
Psalm 34:14 - Pursue peace and don’t worry about always being right.
“Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.”
Psalms 34:14 NASB1995
David now tells us that we should not just guard our tongues from evil and deceit, but that we should depart from evil altogether and do good. We should seek peace and pursue it. Let’s do a couple of word studies!
Depart comes from the Hebrew verb סוּר or çûwr (Strong’s H5493) with the following Biblical usages:
to turn aside, depart
(Qal)
to turn aside, turn in unto
to depart, depart from way, avoid
to be removed
to come to an end
(Polel) to turn aside
(Hiphil)
to cause to turn aside, cause to depart, remove, take away, put away, depose
to put aside, leave undone, retract, reject, abolish
(Hophal) to be taken away, be removed
Evil should be turned aside, removed, avoided, rejected and it should come to an end in your life. Yeah, you are still a fallen human with temptations. But you can avoid temptations as much as possible that lead you into sin and evil.
Pursue it comes from the Hebrew verb רָדַף or râdaph (Strong’s H7291) with the following Biblical usages:
to be behind, follow after, pursue, persecute, run after
(Qal)
to pursue, put to flight, chase, dog, attend closely upon
to persecute, harass (fig)
to follow after, aim to secure (fig)
to run after (a bribe) (fig)
(Niphal)
to be pursued
one pursued (participle)
(Piel) to pursue ardently, aim eagerly to secure, pursue
(Pual) to be pursued, be chased away
(Hiphil) to pursue, chase
Obviously, we are not intending to chase peace away or persecute it or harass it. But we should pursue peace ardently and run after it to secure it.
Here are the Charles Spurgeon Exposition/Explanatory Notes from Precept Austin:
EXPOSITION
Ver. 14. Depart from evil. Go away from it. Not merely take your hands off, but yourself off. Live not near the pest house. Avoid the lion's lair, leave the viper's nest. Set a distance between yourself and temptation. And do good. Be practical, active, energetic, persevering in good. Positive virtue promotes negative virtue; he who does good is sure to avoid evil. Seek peace. Not merely prefer it, but with zeal and care endeavour to promote it. Peace with God, with thine own heart, with thy fellow man, search after this as the merchantman after a precious pearl. Nothing can more effectually promote our own happiness than peace; strife awakens passions which eat into the heart with corroding power. Anger is murder to one's own self, as well as to its objects. And pursue it. Hunt after it, chase it with eager desire. It may soon be lost, indeed, nothing is harder to retain, but do your best, and if enmity should arise let it be no fault of yours. Follow after peace when it shuns you; be resolved not to be of a contentious spirit. The peace which you thus promote will be returned into your own bosom, and be a perennial spring of comfort to you.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 14. Depart from evil, etc. This denotes that evil is near to men; it keeps close to them, and should be declined and shunned: and it regards all sorts of evil; evil men and their evil company; evil things, evil words and works, and all appearance of evil; and the fear of the Lord shows itself in a hatred of it, and a departure from it. Proverbs 8:13 Proverbs 8:16:6. John Gill.
Ver. 14. Depart from evil. The other precepts are the duty of works, and they are four, where the precepts of words were but two; because we must be more in works than in words; and they are all affirmative, for it is against the nature of a work to be in the negative; for so working should be no better than idleness: the two former are general, as general as good and evil; that if we meet with anything that is evil, our part is to depart, for there is no demurring upon evil. Sir Richard Baker.
Ver. 14. Do good. Negative goodness is not sufficient to entitle us to heaven. There are some in the world whose religion runs all upon negatives; they are not drunkards, they are not swearers, and for this they do bless themselves. See how the Pharisee vapours Luke 18:11, "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, "etc. Alas! the not being scandalous will no more make a Christian than a cypher will make a sum. We are bid, not only to cease from evil, but to do good. It will be a poor plea at last--Lord, I kept myself from being spotted with gross sin: I did no hurt. But what good is there in thee? It is not enough for the servant of the vineyard that he doth no hurt there, he doth not break the trees, or destroy the hedges; if he doth not work in the vineyard he loseth his pay. It is not enough for us to say at the last day, we have done no hurt, we have lived in no gross sin; but what good have we done in the vineyard? Where is the grace we have gotten? If we cannot show this, we shall lose our pay, and miss of salvation. Thomas Watson.
Ver. 14. Seek peace, and pursue it. Yea, do well, and thou shalt not need to pursue it; peace will find thee without seeking. Augustine says, Fiat justitia, et habebis pacem --Live righteously, and live peaceably. Quietness shall find out righteousness wheresoever he lodgeth. But she abhorreth the house of evil. Peace will not dine where grace hath not first broken her fast. Let us embrace godliness, and "the peace of God, that passeth all understanding, shall preserve our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ." Philippians 4:7. Thomas Adams.
Ver. 14. See peace and pursue it. The most desirable things are not the easiest to be obtained. What is more lovely to the imagination than the tranquillity of peace? But this great blessing does not voluntarily present itself: it must be sought. Even when sought it often eludes the grasp: it flies away, and must be pursued. 1. The man of a peaceable carriage must be cautious not to give offence when needless, or, when it may innocently be spared.
2. Another part of the peaceable man's character is, not to take offence; especially in small matters, which are hardly worth a wise man's notice. 3. If any needless offence has been either given or taken, we must endeavour to put a stop to it as soon as may be. If a difference is already begun, stifle it in the birth, and suffer it not to proceed farther. Condensed from Dr. Waterland's Sermon, in J. R. Pitman's Course of Sermons on the Psalms, 1846.
Spurgeon’s commentary is spot on. By doing good, we can avoid evil! And we must pursue peace with a passion and do our best to retain it. I don’t really agree with Thomas Watson, who equates doing good in the vineyard with our salvation. Our justification gets us there, but our sanctification is how we are judged by Christ for working His kingdom and for our spiritual growth and obedience to His will. Some are sincerely justified in their faith on their deathbeds and cannot practice doing more than just negative goodness at best. But like the thief on the cross, they are saved if they repent and believe in Christ on the Cross and Christ’s Resurrection.
Practicing peace means not taking offense in minor matters (or giving offense, for that matter). It means living a quiet life and avoiding strife. Social media is full of people taking offense at one side or the other (and sometimes even within their own side) because it is a control issue. Heaven forbid that someone else has a different opinion. Misunderstandings are common and the copious use of sarcasm and irony (without labeling it as such) leads to ugly arguments. Bullies and grammar police are rampant. Keep the peace by not engaging to begin with.
If someone takes offense at something like your beliefs (we have had this happen a couple of times with devotionals), then resort to tools that perhaps block that person from commenting rather than engaging with someone who will escalate the situation (we have also blocked people that have seemed incoherent in their message). I know that we need to be cognizant of others and their immortal souls so blocking someone sounds “mean”, but many have decided to deliberately choose the wide path and will not listen and will only disturb the peace as much as possible.
Peace is a wonderful thing! And God’s presence is felt when we pursue peace.
My next devotional examines Psalm 34:15 - The eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please help me to depart from evil and do good. I pray that I am a peacemaker in all that I do. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 09/01/2025 to review the lexicon for depart, pursue.
Precept Austin was accessed on 09/01/2025 to review commentary for Psalm 34:14.