10 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and good faith for those who keep his agreement and his witness.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ.
Let your desire be for peace with all men, and to be made holy, without which no man may see the Lord;
For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord. For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people: And there will be no need for every man to be teaching his brother, or his neighbour, saying, This is the knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, great and small. And I will have mercy on their evil-doing, and I will not keep their sins in mind.
But the mercy of the Lord is eternal for his worshippers, and their children's children will see his righteousness; If they keep his agreement, and have his laws in mind to do them.
He has kept in mind his mercy and his unchanging faith to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Even when trouble is round me, you will give me life; your hand will be stretched out against the wrath of my haters, and your right hand will be my salvation.
O Lord, you are my God; I will give praise to you, I will give honour to your name; for you have done great acts of power; your purposes in the past have been made true and certain in effect.
The Lord says, Let your way of life be upright, and let your behaviour be rightly ordered: for my salvation is near, and my righteousness will quickly be seen. Happy is the man who does this, and the son of man whose behaviour is so ordered; who keeps the Sabbath holy, and his hand from doing any evil. And let not the man from a strange country, who has been joined to the Lord, say, The Lord will certainly put a division between me and his people: and let not the unsexed man say, See, I am a dry tree. For the Lord says, As for the unsexed who keep my Sabbaths, and give their hearts to pleasing me, and keep their agreement with me: I will give to them in my house, and inside my walls, a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off. And as for those from a strange country, who are joined to the Lord, to give worship to him and honour to his name, to be his servants, even everyone who keeps the Sabbath holy, and keeps his agreement with me:
As for Ephraim, what has he to do with false gods any longer? I have given an answer and I will keep watch over him; I am like a branching fir-tree, from me comes your fruit.
And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
But in every nation, the man who has fear of him and does righteousness is pleasing to him.
And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.
We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.
Because he has given me his love, I will take him out of danger: I will put him in a place of honour, because he has kept my name in his heart.
The seat of your kingdom is resting on righteousness and right judging: mercy and good faith come before your face.
He will send from heaven, and take me from the power of him whose desire is for my destruction. God will send out his mercy and his good faith.
Whoever makes an offering of praise gives glory to me; and to him who is upright in his ways I will make clear the salvation of God.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he takes delight in his way. Even if he has a fall he will not be without help: for the hand of the Lord is supporting him.
For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his works are certain.
Give them the right reward of their acts, and of their evil doings: give them punishment for the works of their hands, let them have their full reward. Because they have no respect for the works of the Lord, or for the things which his hands have made, they will be broken down and not lifted up by him. May the Lord be praised, because he has given ear to the voice of my prayer.
He who has clean hands and a true heart; whose desire has not gone out to foolish things, who has not taken a false oath. He will have blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright; He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge.
And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth.
And said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has given a sign that he is good and true to my master, by guiding me straight to the house of my master's family.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 25
Commentary on Psalms 25 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 25
Ps 25:1-22. The general tone of this Psalm is that of prayer for help from enemies. Distress, however, exciting a sense of sin, humble confession, supplication for pardon, preservation from sin, and divine guidance, are prominent topics.
1. lift up my soul—(Ps 24:4; 86:4), set my affections (compare Col 3:2).
2. not be ashamed—by disappointment of hopes of relief.
3. The prayer generalized as to all who wait on God—that is, who expect His favor. On the other hand, the disappointment of the perfidious, who, unprovoked, have done evil, is invoked (compare 2Sa 22:9).
4, 5. On the ground of former favor, he invokes divine guidance, according to God's gracious ways of dealing and faithfulness.
6, 7. Confessing past and present sins, he pleads for mercy, not on palliations of sin, but on God's well-known benevolence.
8, 9. upright—acting according to His promise.
sinners—the general term, limited by the
meek—who are penitent.
the way—and his way—God's way of providence.
9. in judgment—rightly.
10. paths—similar sense—His modes of dealing (compare Ps 25:4).
mercy and truth—(Job 14:1-22), God's grace in promising and faithfulness in performing.
11. God's perfections of love, mercy, goodness, and truth are manifested (his name, compare Ps 9:10) in pardoning sin, and the greatness of sin renders pardon more needed.
12, 13. What he asks for himself is the common lot of all the pious.
13. inherit the earth—(compare Mt 5:5). The phrase, alluding to the promise of Canaan, expresses all the blessings included in that promise, temporal as well as spiritual.
14. The reason of the blessing explained—the pious enjoy communion with God (compare Pr 3:21, 12), and, of course, learn His gracious terms of pardon.
15. His trust in God is fixed.
net—is frequently used as a figure for dangers by enemies (Ps 9:15; 10:9).
16-19. A series of earnest appeals for aid because God had seemed to desert him (compare Ps 13:1; 17:13, &c.), his sins oppressed him, his enemies had enlarged his troubles and were multiplied, increasing in hate and violence (Ps 9:8; 18:48).
20. keep my soul—(Ps 16:1).
put my trust—flee for refuge (Ps 2:12).
21. In conscious innocence of the faults charged by his enemies, he confidently commits his cause to God. Some refer—
integrity, &c.—to God, meaning His covenant faithfulness. This sense, though good, is an unusual application of the terms.
22. Extend these blessings to all Thy people in all their distresses.