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 25:12-15

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. ³ 

25:13 They experience his favor; ⁴ 

their descendants ⁵  inherit the land. ⁶ 

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ⁷ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ⁸ 

25:15 I continually look to the Lord for help, ⁹ 

for he will free my feet from the enemy’s net. ¹⁰ 

[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.

[25:12]  ³ 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”).

[25:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “his life in goodness dwells.” The singular is representative (see v. 14).

[25:13]  ⁵ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[25:13]  ⁶ tn Or “earth.”

[25:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[25:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “my eyes continually [are] toward the Lord.”

[25:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for he will bring out from a net my feet.” The hostility of the psalmist’s enemies is probably in view (see v. 19).