Psalms 25

Lord, I lift up my whole self to you.

1Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

Note"Lift up my soul" is a Hebrew idiom for directing your whole life and longing toward someone; the word behind "soul" (nephesh) means a person's life or self, not a spirit housed inside the body. This psalm is also an acrostic: in Hebrew each verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet, a shape that cannot survive translation. It means the run of thought is partly steered by the alphabet rather than by a developing argument, which is why the psalm circles back over the same themes.

2My God, I trust you. Do not let me be put to shame. Do not let my enemies celebrate over me.

2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

Note"Put to shame" in Hebrew is public, not private: it means being visibly disgraced, exposed as someone whose confidence was misplaced. The fear is not embarrassment but the humiliation of having trusted and been let down where everyone can see.

3No one who waits for you will be put to shame. The ones who will be disgraced are those who betray others for no reason.

3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

Note"Wait for you" translates a verb (qavah) of tense, expectant hope, watching for something to arrive, not passive killing of time. The people contrasted with them are described by a word (bagad) used of breaking faith: treachery against a partner, an ally, or a spouse. The Hebrew grammar leaves it open whether the line is a statement ("none who wait for you will be shamed") or a wish ("let none be shamed").

4Show me your ways, Lord. Teach me your paths.

4Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

5Guide me in your truth and teach me, because you are the God who saves me. I wait for you all day long.

5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

6Remember, Lord, your deep pity and your faithful love, because they have been there from long ago.

6Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

NoteTwo different words for love sit side by side here. The first (rachamim, KJV "tender mercies") is built on the word for a womb and suggests the gut-level pity of a parent for a child. The second (chesed, KJV "lovingkindness") means loyal, committed love, the steady faithfulness owed inside a binding relationship. "Ever of old" means from ancient times, not merely for a long while.

7Do not remember the sins I did when I was young, or the times I turned against you. Remember me with your faithful love, because you are good, Lord.

7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.

8The Lord is good and fair. So he shows sinners the right way to go.

8Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

9He guides humble people in what is right, and he teaches them his way.

9The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

Note"Meek" in 1611 English did not mean timid. The Hebrew word covers the humble and the low-status, those without power or standing, often the poor. "Judgment" here (mishpat) means what is right and just, not a verdict or a punishment.

10Everything the Lord does is loving and faithful toward those who keep his covenant, the agreement he made with them, and obey his rules.

10All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

NoteA covenant was a formal binding agreement, the ancient equivalent of a treaty, with named obligations on each side; Israel understood its relationship with God in those terms. "Testimonies" translates a word for the specific stipulations of such an agreement, the recorded terms, not a personal account of one's experiences. "Mercy and truth" are again chesed (loyal love) and emet (reliability, faithfulness).

11For the sake of your own name, Lord, forgive my guilt, because it is great.

11For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

Note"For your name's sake" is an idiom: a name stood for a person's reputation and known character. The request is that God act in a way consistent with who he is publicly known to be. The "it" that is great is the guilt, not the name, the psalmist gives the size of the offense as the reason for asking, not as an obstacle.

12Who is the person who fears the Lord? The Lord will teach him the way that should be chosen.

12What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

NoteTo "fear the LORD" is a standing Hebrew phrase for reverent loyalty, taking God seriously enough to order your life by him, rather than being frightened of him. The second half is genuinely ambiguous in Hebrew: it can mean the way God chooses for the man, or the way the man himself should choose.

13He will live a settled, secure life, and his children after him will receive the land.

13His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

Note"Dwell at ease" translates a phrase meaning to spend the night in good things, settled, provided for, secure. "Seed" means descendants. The word rendered "earth" (eretz) usually means land or territory, and for an Israelite reader it would point to the land promised to their ancestors; inheriting land, not the planet, is the picture.

14The Lord takes those who fear him into his confidence, and he shows them his covenant.

14The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

NoteThe word behind KJV's "secret" (sod) means a confidential circle, the group of trusted advisers a king lets into his deliberations, and by extension the private counsel shared there. The line says God treats such people as insiders, not that he keeps secrets from others.

15My eyes are always on the Lord, because he will pull my feet out of the net.

15Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

NoteThe net is a hunter's or fowler's net, spread on the ground to entangle the legs of animals and birds. Being caught in one is a stock image in these poems for being trapped by enemies' schemes.

16Turn to me and be kind to me, because I am alone and hurting.

16Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.

17The troubles in my heart have grown larger. Bring me out of my distress.

17The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.

Note"Heart" in Hebrew is the seat of thought, decision and will as much as feeling, closer to "mind" than to romantic emotion. The Hebrew of the first line is disputed: it can be read as "the troubles of my heart have grown wide" or, dividing the words differently, as "relieve the troubles of my heart."

18Look at my suffering and my pain, and forgive all my sins.

18Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

19Look at my enemies, because there are many of them, and they hate me with a violent hatred.

19Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

Note"Cruel hatred" translates "hatred of violence", hatred of the kind that produces bodily harm, not merely hostile feeling.

20Guard my life and rescue me. Do not let me be put to shame, because I take shelter in you.

20O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

Note"Keep my soul" uses the same word as in verse 1: guard my life, my very self. "Take shelter" translates a verb (chasah) meaning to run for refuge (to a rock, a fortress, or under a bird's wing), so trusting God is pictured as fleeing to a safe place rather than holding an opinion.

21May honesty and doing what is right keep me safe, because I wait for you.

21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

Note"Integrity" translates a word (tom) meaning whole, complete, undivided (a person of one piece, without a hidden second agenda), rather than honesty in the narrow sense of not lying.

22God, rescue Israel out of all its troubles.

22Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

NoteThis verse falls outside the alphabet pattern that governs the rest of the psalm and switches from one person's trouble to the whole nation's; many readers take it as a line added so a congregation could use the psalm together. "Redeem" translates padah, a commercial word: to buy someone out of captivity or slavery by paying the price for them.