4 Make your steps clear to me, O Lord; give me knowledge of your ways.
If then I have grace in your eyes, let me see your ways, so that I may have knowledge of you and be certain of your grace; and my prayer is that you will keep in mind that this nation is your people.
Make your way clear to me, O Lord, guiding me by the right way, because of my haters.
Make your way clear to me, O Lord; I will go on my way in your faith: let my heart be glad in the fear of your name.
Let the story of your mercy come to me in the morning, for my hope is in you: give me knowledge of the way in which I am to go; for my soul is lifted up to you.
Make the way of your orders clear to me; then my thoughts will be ever on your wonders.
I go in the road of righteousness, in the way of right judging:
And the peoples will say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will give us knowledge of his ways, and we will be guided by his word; for out of Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 25
Commentary on Psalms 25 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 25
Ps 25:1-22. The general tone of this Psalm is that of prayer for help from enemies. Distress, however, exciting a sense of sin, humble confession, supplication for pardon, preservation from sin, and divine guidance, are prominent topics.
1. lift up my soul—(Ps 24:4; 86:4), set my affections (compare Col 3:2).
2. not be ashamed—by disappointment of hopes of relief.
3. The prayer generalized as to all who wait on God—that is, who expect His favor. On the other hand, the disappointment of the perfidious, who, unprovoked, have done evil, is invoked (compare 2Sa 22:9).
4, 5. On the ground of former favor, he invokes divine guidance, according to God's gracious ways of dealing and faithfulness.
6, 7. Confessing past and present sins, he pleads for mercy, not on palliations of sin, but on God's well-known benevolence.
8, 9. upright—acting according to His promise.
sinners—the general term, limited by the
meek—who are penitent.
the way—and his way—God's way of providence.
9. in judgment—rightly.
10. paths—similar sense—His modes of dealing (compare Ps 25:4).
mercy and truth—(Job 14:1-22), God's grace in promising and faithfulness in performing.
11. God's perfections of love, mercy, goodness, and truth are manifested (his name, compare Ps 9:10) in pardoning sin, and the greatness of sin renders pardon more needed.
12, 13. What he asks for himself is the common lot of all the pious.
13. inherit the earth—(compare Mt 5:5). The phrase, alluding to the promise of Canaan, expresses all the blessings included in that promise, temporal as well as spiritual.
14. The reason of the blessing explained—the pious enjoy communion with God (compare Pr 3:21, 12), and, of course, learn His gracious terms of pardon.
15. His trust in God is fixed.
net—is frequently used as a figure for dangers by enemies (Ps 9:15; 10:9).
16-19. A series of earnest appeals for aid because God had seemed to desert him (compare Ps 13:1; 17:13, &c.), his sins oppressed him, his enemies had enlarged his troubles and were multiplied, increasing in hate and violence (Ps 9:8; 18:48).
20. keep my soul—(Ps 16:1).
put my trust—flee for refuge (Ps 2:12).
21. In conscious innocence of the faults charged by his enemies, he confidently commits his cause to God. Some refer—
integrity, &c.—to God, meaning His covenant faithfulness. This sense, though good, is an unusual application of the terms.
22. Extend these blessings to all Thy people in all their distresses.