Mazmur 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.

Mazmur 86:11

86:11 O Lord, teach me how you want me to live! ³ 

Then I will obey your commands. ⁴ 

Make me wholeheartedly committed to you! ⁵ 

Mazmur 119:10

119:10 With all my heart I seek you.

Do not allow me to stray from your commands!

Mazmur 119:64

119:64 O Lord, your loyal love fills the earth.

Teach me your statutes!

Mazmur 143:8-10

143:8 May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ⁶ 

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, ⁷ 

because I long for you. ⁸ 

143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!

I run to you for protection. ⁹ 

143:10 Teach me to do what pleases you, ¹⁰ 

for you are my God.

May your kind presence ¹¹ 

lead me ¹²  into a level land. ¹³ 

[25:4]  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.

[25:5]  ² sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.

[86:11]  ³ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles he expects the psalmist to follow. See Pss 25:4; 27:11.

[86:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will walk in your truth.” The Lord’s commandments are referred to as “truth” here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will. See Ps 25:5.

[86:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Bind my heart to the fearing of your name.” The verb translated “bind” occurs only here in the Piel stem. It appears twice in the Qal, meaning “be joined” in both cases (Gen 49:6; Isa 14:20). To “fear” God’s name means to have a healthy respect for him which in turn motivates one to obey his commands (see Pss 61:5; 102:15).

[143:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “cause me to hear in the morning your loyal love.” Here “loyal love” probably stands metonymically for an oracle of assurance promising God’s intervention as an expression of his loyal love.

[143:8]  sn The morning is sometimes viewed as the time of divine intervention (see Pss 30:5; 59:16; 90:14).

[143:8]  ⁷ sn The way probably refers here to God’s moral and ethical standards and requirements (see v. 10).

[143:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “for to you I lift up my life.” The Hebrew expression נָאָשׂ נֶפֶשׁ (na’as nefesh, “to lift up [one’s] life”) means “to desire; to long for” (see Deut 24:15; Prov 19:18; Jer 22:27; 44:14; Hos 4:8, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 16).

[143:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “to you I cover,” which makes no sense. The translation assumes an emendation to נַסְתִּי (nastiy, “I flee,” a Qal perfect, first singular form from נוּס, nos). Confusion of kaf (כ) and nun (נ) is attested elsewhere (see P. K. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 48). The collocation of נוּס (“flee”) with אֶל (’el, “to”) is well-attested.

[143:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “your will.” See Ps 40:8.

[143:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your good spirit.” God’s “spirit” may refer here to his presence (see the note on the word “presence” in Ps 139:7) or to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).

[143:10]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. Taking the statement as a prayer fits well with the petitionary tone of vv. 7-10a.

[143:10]  ¹³ sn A level land (where one can walk free of obstacles) here symbolizes divine blessing and protection. See Pss 26:12 and 27:11 for similar imagery.