Psalms 25 KJV
A Prayer for Guidance and Pardon
About This Psalm
An acrostic prayer for guidance, forgiveness, and protection. When you're lost and need direction, this is the prayer.
1nto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
4 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodnessโ sake, O LORD.
8 Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For thy nameโs sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.
20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
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Did You Know?
Psalm 25 forms an imperfect acrostic that omits the letter qoph, a deliberate gap some interpreters read as underscoring human incompleteness before divine mercy rather than poetic failure.
The psalm's chiastic arrangement places the explicit plea for forgiveness of iniquity at its center (v. 11), making pardon the structural and theological hinge between the surrounding petitions for guidance and deliverance.
Verse 14's reference to 'the secret of the LORD' draws on covenantal language elsewhere reserved for intimate divine counsel shared only with those who fear him, linking the psalm to wisdom traditions of hidden revelation.
Early Jewish liturgical use associated the psalm with the Day of Atonement because its movement from confession through instruction to trust mirrors the Yom Kippur sequence of repentance and restored relationship.
The repeated motif of 'lifting up' the soul (v. 1) and eyes (implicit in v. 15) creates a literary thread connecting this psalm to the Songs of Ascents, portraying prayer as an embodied ascent toward God's throne.
Commentary & Study Notes
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Psalms 25 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: 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.
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 v1-22
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.