Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

Psalm 25

Prayer for Guidance and for Deliverance

Of David.

To you, O L ord, I lift up my soul.

O my God, in you I trust;

do not let me be put to shame;

do not let my enemies exult over me.

Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;

let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O L ord;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all day long.

Be mindful of your mercy, O L ord, and of your steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

according to your steadfast love remember me,

for your goodness’ sake, O L ord!

Good and upright is the L ord;

therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

All the paths of the L ord are steadfast love and faithfulness,

for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

For your name’s sake, O L ord,

pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Who are they that fear the L ord?

He will teach them the way that they should choose.

They will abide in prosperity,

and their children shall possess the land.

The friendship of the L ord is for those who fear him,

and he makes his covenant known to them.

My eyes are ever toward the L ord,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

Relieve the troubles of my heart,

and bring me out of my distress.

Consider my affliction and my trouble,

and forgive all my sins.

Consider how many are my foes,

and with what violent hatred they hate me.

O guard my life, and deliver me;

do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I wait for you.

Redeem Israel, O God,

out of all its troubles.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

22. Do thou, O God! redeem Israel. By this conclusion David shows of what character the enemies were of whom he complained. From this it would appear that they were domestic enemies, who, like some disease raging within the bowels, were now the cause of trouble and vexation to the people of God. By the word redeem, which he here employs, we may infer that the Church was at that time oppressed with hard bondage; and, therefore, I have no doubt that in this psalm he alludes to Saul and others who reigned with him in a tyrannical manner. At the same time, he shows that he has respect not merely to his own benefit, but that he comprehends in his prayer the state of the whole realm, just as the mutual communion and connection which subsist among the saints require that every individual, deeply affected by a sense of the public calamities which befall the Church at large, should unite with all the others in lamentation before God. This contributed in no small degree to confirm the faith of David, when, regarding himself as in all things connected with the whole body of the faithful, he considered that all the afflictions and wrongs which he endured were common to himself with them. And we ought to regard it as of the greatest importance, that in accordance with this rule, every one of us, in bewailing his private miseries and trials, should extend his desires and prayers to the whole Church.