Psalm 50:18 (ESV)

18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.

More specific matters are addressed from here on. That is often necessary for us humans. Only when this takes place do we feel addressed.

In Psalm 50:18–20 the well-known Ten Commandments are discussed. The psalmist is saying that the wicked are pleased with the thief (eighth commandment), and they feel at home with the adulterers (seventh commandment). There is no question that the wicked avoid their company. Maybe the wicked will not always participate in these things, but they also do not warn against it.

It is striking that the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 50:1–23 loosely in Romans 2:17–24. That passage ends with, The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. It is precisely this that should motivate us to take God’s law seriously.