I. (25:1–3) Expression of Trust. The psalm opens by expressing confidence in the Lord; the request of verse 2 is reaffirmed as assurance in verse 3. The “shame” terms appear three times in verses 2–3.

The expression “lift up my soul” (cf. comment on 24:3–6) appears elsewhere (Deut. 24:15; Prov. 19:18; Jer. 22:27; 44:14; Hos. 4:8), where it is translated with terms such as “long,” “desire,” “set the heart on,” “be greedy,” and “count on.” Thus we may take it as an idiom for “I direct my desire” (cf. Pss. 86:4; 143:8).

For someone to “be put to shame” (25:2, 3, 20) is for him to be publicly shown to have relied on a false basis for hope, as is clear from the parallel with “my enemies exult over me.” The singing worshipers, who side with the genuinely faithful (“I trust,” “wait for you”), expect that their hope in the Lord has a worthy basis, while those who seek to harm them (“enemies,” “wantonly treacherous,” i.e., the unfaithful) have founded their hopes on lies.

The psalm does not explicitly define the “enemies.” From the subject matter we can infer that they are envisioned as people who would gloat over any hardships that would overtake the faithful (v. 2); they cannot be trusted (v. 3)—which is an outrage to a healthy human social system. Further, they would find a way to use these hardships to take advantage of the faithful (v. 20). The psalm can be used in cases in which the enemies are fellow members of the covenant people and in cases in which they are Gentiles. The experience of public display of one’s false basis for hope would be the keener in a society in which the relational bonds between the members play a highly noticeable role in one’s sense of well-being—and such was Israel (by design).

To “wait for” God (v. 3) is to set one’s hopes on him; this is a disposition of trust and dependence, not passivity.

II. (25:4–5) Desire for Guidance. Those who trust in the Lord seek his guidance; that is, they desire to learn what manner of life (“ways,” “paths”) pleases him and how his commands apply to their specific circumstances. The verbs express three requests, and this mood unifies the two verses: “make me to know . . . teach me . . . lead me.”

God’s guidance in the Bible is normally concerned with the moral virtues he seeks in his faithful people (cf. vv. 8–10, 12); in light of these virtues the faithful make their choices in the various circumstances of life. This is what those who “wait” (cf. comment on 25:1–3) will do.

III. (25:6–7) Desire for Forgiveness. For God’s covenant people to make progress in virtue they must rely on God’s grace and kindness, not their own virtue (which comes from God’s guidance anyhow). Verse 6 appeals to God to “remember,” while verse 7 asks him to “remember not.”

The terms “mercy,” “steadfast love,” “sins,” and “transgressions” evoke Exodus 34:6–7 (for “goodness” cf. Ex. 33:19), which tells Israel of God’s gracious disposition toward them (cf. Ps. 25:10 for another allusion to that text; “steadfast love and faithfulness”). For God to “remember” something is for him to attend to it in order to act (8:4; 9:12; 20:3); the faithful ask God to attend to them in mercy rather than according to their sins (cf. 79:8).

The “sins of my youth” would most likely be those to which youth readily inclines people, perhaps those “into which lust and thoughtlessness have precipitated him”222 (cf. 2 Tim. 2:22, “flee youthful passions”). Youth is not here an excuse but an aggravating circumstance, since these sins involve a misdirection of the energy and resilience that youth bestows.

IV. (25:8–11) Praise for the Lord’s Goodness and Mercy. This section picks up the ideas of God’s goodness, steadfast love, and faithfulness from Psam 25:6–7 and his guidance from verses 4–5. It consists of a series of statements celebrating the character of God, by which he forgives his people and guides them in moral growth.

Verse 8 is startling: the Lord is “good and upright” (v. 8)—he is generous and fully true to all moral rightness—and “therefore he instructs sinners”! His moral integrity means that he reliably responds with generous treatment to those who acknowledge their wrongdoing (“sinners” connects to “sins”; v. 7). Such people are “the humble” (v. 9).

To “keep his covenant” (v. 10) is to lay hold of the Lord’s forgiveness and guidance that it graciously offers—as described in Exodus 34:6–7, to which this verse alludes. The “paths of the Lord,” in view of the echo of Psalm 25:4, would be the paths that he teaches his faithful, expressing his “steadfast love and faithfulness.”

Hence this section ends with a request, similar in content to verses 6–7. There the prayer is to be treated kindly “for the sake of your goodness” (probably “because of your goodness,” i.e., “because you are good” or else “because your goodness should be known”); now the prayer is “for your name’s sake,” which could be either “because of your revealed character” (the “name” proclaimed in Ex. 34:6) or “because your name should be known to all as a good and upright God.” Either will fit the context, although perhaps the first (both for Ps. 25:7 and for v. 11) suits the allusion to Exodus 34:6–7 that runs through this text.

The prayer is “Pardon my guilt, for it is great”; that is, I make this request because my guilt is great and I desperately need forgiveness.223 This applies to the individual worshiper what Moses had already applied to the people as a whole: “Let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin” (Ex. 34:9).224

V. (25:12–15) Confidence in the Lord’s Friendship. The faithful have a close and intimate relationship with God. The psalm has shifted from describing the Lord (Ps. 25:8–11) to describing the well-being of the faithful.

In verse 12 the singers envision a particular “man who fears the Lord,” while verse 14 generalizes its lesson to the larger number of “those who fear him.” Though the “man” in verse 12 is a particular adult male (Hb. ʼish), it follows from the connection with verse 14 that he is used as a concrete example for all the pious, regardless of sex or age (cf. comment on 1:1–2).

To “fear the Lord” is another way of describing the genuine piety of the faithful, focusing on their reverential and humble disposition toward the God who has revealed himself in the covenant. Such a person will receive the guidance and instruction spoken of in verses 4–5, 8–10. He also enjoys “well-being” (v. 13), which is the expression of God’s goodness (vv. 7–8).225 He further has God’s “friendship” (v. 14), that is, welcome into his intimate company (“secret counsel,” ESV mg.; cf. 55:14; Prov. 3:32), the deepest knowledge of “his covenant.”

The song then affirms the only proper stance toward God: “my eyes are ever toward the Lord,” in constant trust and hope that “he will pluck my feet out of the net”—presumably, from the traps that the enemies have set (cf. comment on 25:1–3).

VI. (25:16–21) Request for Forgiveness and Protection. Now the psalm gathers all these confident thoughts and turns them into prayer for the particular circumstances of trouble. This section is united by its repeated requests (“turn,” “bring me out,” “consider,” “forgive,” “consider,” “let me not,” “may”).

The song asks for deliverance from the “affliction,” “trouble,” and “foes,” with their “violent hatred” that threaten (vv. 17–19), and further asks for forgiven “sins” (v. 18b). Other than the word “sins,” these other terms have not appeared in the psalm yet, but their subject matter surely has. Likely the troubles in view are those the enemies can make; the singer of this psalm recognizes that these foes in themselves have no power unless God should hold his unconfessed and unforgiven sins against him.

The virtues of “integrity and uprightness” (v. 21), which are the gifts of divine grace (stemming from God’s own uprightness; v. 8), are God’s means of protection (Prov. 2:11–12); by them the faithful will discern the path that God prefers and walk in it.

VII. (25:22) Prayer for the Whole People. The psalm has focused on the particular members of God’s people, but it closes with a recognition that each of them is part of a larger body. Hence the prayer turns to a request that God would “redeem,” a word that generally conveys the idea of rescue and protection, especially when its object is Israel (Pss. 44:26; 111:9; 130:7–8) or a faithful worshiper (26:11; 34:22; 55:18; 71:23).226 The “troubles” that each of the faithful suffers (repeating the word from 25:18) afflict the entire people, and biblical piety seeks the well-being of both.