Psalm 25

Footnotes

1. 17 Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.
2. 1 Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.
3. 2 Heb “those who deal in treachery in vain.” The adverb רֵיקָם (reqam, “in vain”) probably refers to the failure (or futility) of their efforts. Another option is to understand it as meaning “without cause” (cf. “without excuse”; “wantonly treacherous”).
4. 3 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.
5. 4 The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.
6. 5 That is, “remember” with the intention of repeating.
7. 6 Heb “for from antiquity [are] they.”
8. 7 Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.
9. 8 That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.
10. 9 Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”
11. 10 Heb “good and just.”
12. 11 Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”
13. 12 The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.
14. 13 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.
15. 14 The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).
16. 15 Heb “all the paths of the Lord are faithful and trustworthy.” The Lord’s “paths” refer here to his characteristic actions.
17. 16 Heb “to the ones who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”
18. 17 Heb “name.” By forgiving the sinful psalmist, the Lord’s reputation as a merciful God will be enhanced.
19. 18 Forgive my sin, because it is great. The psalmist readily admits his desperate need for forgiveness.
20. 19 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”).
21. 20 Heb “his life in goodness dwells.” The singular is representative (see v. 14).
22. 21 Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
23. 22 Or “earth.”
24. 23 Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”
25. 24 Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”
26. 25 Heb “my eyes continually [are] toward the Lord.”
27. 26 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).
28. 27 That is, helpless and vulnerable.
29. 28 Heb “the distresses of my heart, they make wide.” The text makes little if any sense as it stands, unless this is an otherwise unattested intransitive use of the Hiphil of רָחַב (rakhav, “be wide”). It is preferable to emend the form הִרְחִיבוּ (hirkhivu; Hiphil perfect third plural “they make wide”) to הַרְחֵיב (harkhev; Hiphil imperative masculine singular “make wide”). (The final vav [ו] can be joined to the following word and taken as a conjunction.) In this case one can translate, “[in/from] the distresses of my heart, make wide [a place for me],” that is, “deliver me from the distress I am experiencing.” For the expression “make wide [a place for me],” see Ps 4:1.
30. 29 Heb “from my distresses lead me out.”
31. 30 Heb “lift up all my sins.”
32. 31 Heb “see my enemies for they are numerous, and [with] violent hatred they hate me.”
33. 32 Or “my life.”
34. 33 Or “redeem.”
35. 34 Heb “his distresses.” O God, rescue Israel from all their distress. It is possible that the psalmist speaks on behalf of the nation throughout this entire psalm. Another option is that v. 22 is a later addition to the psalm which applies an original individual lament to the covenant community. If so, it may reflect an exilic setting.