Psalms 25:4-5

25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

Teach me your paths! 1 

25:5 Guide me into your truth 2  and teach me.

For you are the God who delivers me;

on you I rely all day long.

Psalms 25:9

25:9 May he show 3  the humble what is right! 4 

May he teach 5  the humble his way!

Psalms 25:12

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. 6 

1 sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

2 sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.

3 tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.

4 tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (’anavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.

5 tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).

6 tn Heb “Who is this man, the one who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The singular (note “man”) is representative here (see v. 14, where the plural is used), and has thus been translated as a plural (“followers…they”).