The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.
Earlier in this psalm David admits his sin and asks God to teach him. This verse names the condition: humility. Older translations read "the meek" where the ESV reads "the humble," and "in judgment" where it reads "in what is right." Two questions follow. Who are the meek? And what does God promise them?
The word is not about a soft personality. It describes a person who has stopped pretending before God.
The humble are those who take their true place before God, not hiding their sinfulness. Only in such an attitude are people really teachable, and in submission of heart to Him will they learn His way.
In daily life, that submission shows in how a person takes what others do to them.
Suppose I give you a harsh word. If you take it from me, Satan instantly gets an advantage, and you are angry. If you take it directly from God, you say, "That was not very nice, not very Christ-like. But the Lord must have had some good reason for letting that harsh word come." What meekness that produces in the soul, when I take everything directly from the hand of God. What is it to be meek? It is a person who is willing to be trampled on, a person who takes everything so from God that the bitter thing is sweet.
Meekness is not the price paid for God's help. It grows in a person who has admitted their sin and found God good anyway.
But acknowledging sin and knowing the goodness of God produces meekness, a subdued spirit, and lowliness. It means the absence of haughtiness and of self — the very thing the pagan world treated as the source of virtue. In this state God guides in judgment and teaches His way.
The two halves of the verse do not say the same thing twice. The first promises more than directions for the road ahead. It promises an inward ability to judge a situation as God judges it.
He does more than teach the way to someone who had wandered far from it. Where there is lowliness and submission to God, He leads them into an understanding of His ways in their own spirit and mind. His instructions form them to judge what God's own way is. This is an inward, moral likeness to God that sets itself to discern and judge circumstances.
If lowliness opens the lesson, pride closes it.
How often our vanity and self-importance make us miss the guidance and teaching of the LORD! But acknowledging our sin and realising the goodness of God leads to a spirit of meekness. That meekness receives the LORD's guidance, light on His way, and a right judgment about good and evil.
Scripture gives a test case: the meekest man in the world.
In His dealings with His servants, God acts on the principles of His own word. Numbers 12 says, "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth." And Psalm 103:7 says, "He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel." He deals like this with those who are morally near Him. He gives them the capacity to understand Him and to receive what He makes known of His mind. This is solemn. Israel could only know Him in His outward acts. They were morally far from Him, and so unfit to hear His counsels and ways.
What about the times we long for clear direction and have no visible sign to follow?
Have we ever sighed for guidance on our pilgrim way, wishing we had some visible sign to direct us? … We have His Spirit and His word, and if we have that meekness of which Psalm 25:9 speaks, we shall not lack the over-ruling guidance that we need.
God ties this promise to a condition, not to a group. Where the condition is missing, Christians disagree.
If there were more of this blessed spirit of meekness among us, there would be less confusion, less controversy, and less quarrelling over words that does no good. If we were all meek, God would guide us all and teach us all, and so we would see eye to eye.
- Cause — meekness grows; no one manufactures it. Owning your sin and finding God good anyway leaves a subdued spirit with no pride in it.
- Condition — the meek take their true place before God and hide none of their sinfulness. Only such people are teachable.
- Gift — God does more than point out the road; He forms the mind to discern and judge circumstances as He does.
- Barrier — vanity and self-importance make us miss this guidance. A proud heart cannot receive it.
- Result — God made His ways known to Moses, the meekest of men, while Israel saw only His acts. Where meekness spreads, confusion and controversy shrink.
All the paths of Jehovah are loving-kindness and truth for such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Psalm 25 is the prayer of a man who asks God to show him His ways, then admits that his own guilt is great. Verse 10 is the answer he rests in. Every path God takes with His people carries the same two marks — "steadfast love and faithfulness," which older translations call "mercy and truth."
The verse speaks of paths in the plural, and that plural matters. God's people are not all led over identical ground.
He has only one way, "the way of peace," or "the way of the Lord," the way that leads to the glory of God. But He has many "paths," all of which are mercy and truth (v. 10). He may lead one believer along a path of trial and sorrow, and another along a path that is mostly pleasant. More often the path is a mixture of the two. Every path He appoints for His saints carries "mercy and truth" with it. That is a great contrast to the hardness and falsehood of the paths that large numbers of unbelievers walk.
The two words are not alternatives. God does not soften one to make room for the other, and a later psalm shows the pair in full display.
"Mercy" is promised to those who in their hearts "keep Jehovah's covenant and His testimonies," and it is promised because they need it. Holiness is fully kept, and grace is shown. "Mercy" leads the way and brings in "truth," and "all the paths of Jehovah" declare these things together. So "mercy and truth" have "met together," and "righteousness and peace" will "kiss each other." Psalm 85 shows this brought about.
That combination is God acting in character. Verses 8 to 10 hold together in one thought:
In verses 8 to 10 the soul recognizes that all God's dealings with sinners match His own nature. So they will be goodness joined with uprightness. As we should say in the clear light of Christianity, grace reigns through righteousness. Those who receive the blessing are the meek and the obedient.
The verse describes who walks these paths: those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. That points to the Scriptures we have in hand.
Psalm 25 speaks of keeping "His testimonies" as the way by which the paths of the Lord become mercy and truth to us. The form in which we have His testimonies is the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God is the first source of all light and direction for us. There we find the broad principles of action that are to govern us. There are smaller details of a personal kind, of course, and we cannot expect to find these mentioned in Scripture. Still, we may seek and find guidance in many confusing situations — if we keep the fear of the Lord, if we wait on Him in prayer with a meek spirit, and if we obey what we know of His revealed Word.
Verse 10 sits between "He instructs sinners in the way" and "pardon my guilt, for it is great." That placement exposes a common instinct.
The heart of man upsets everything. He puts the uprightness of Jehovah before His grace, and His truth before His mercy. He thinks that if a man walks as he should, God will be good to him. That is the exact opposite of what is said here… Jehovah who is "upright" loves uprightness. But above all He wants the wretched sinner to know Him as "good." A poorly taught soul knows its faults up to a point, and then wants to reach the enjoyment of God's goodness by its own uprightness.
If these paths belong to covenant-keepers, a problem follows at once. The psalmist feels it himself, which is why the very next verse begs for pardon. The covenant he stood under brought a real difficulty with it.
Here was a serious difficulty for the Israelite — the nature of that "covenant" he was under with God. The law, as the apostle declares (2 Cor. 3) and the experience of every honest-hearted man confirms, was only the "ministry of death" and "condemnation." No one could face its demands without the cry we find in the Psalms themselves: "Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You."
- Character: The paths start in God Himself. His dealings with sinners follow His own nature — goodness joined with uprightness.
- Content: Every path carries both mercy and truth. God keeps holiness in full and shows grace at the same time; He never trades one for the other.
- Reach: One way, many paths. Sorrow for one, ease for another, usually a mix — but the same two marks on each.
- Condition: These paths belong to those who keep His covenant and testimonies. In practice, that means obeying Scripture in meekness and dependence.
- Confession: The order is not "walk well, then God is good." Verse 11 shows that the psalmist could not claim a kept covenant. He asks for pardon for the sake of God's name.
For thy name's sake, O Jehovah, thou wilt indeed pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
Psalm 25 is the prayer of a soul learning God's ways. At verse 11 the prayer turns to the one thing in the way: the man's own guilt, which older translations call his iniquity. The reason he gives is startling. He asks for pardon because the sin is great, and he asks on a ground outside himself.
Why would anyone give the size of his sin as a reason to be pardoned? It is the reverse of how people usually argue:
God brings in the principle of living righteousness, and so makes us conscious of our sins. "For Your name's sake pardon my iniquity; for it is great," Psalm 25. This is strange reasoning according to man's thought — "for it is great." Men plead that their sin is a little one. But when God teaches us, we see how great sin is. Another thing is that truth is in the man. Because he feels the sin is great, he has given up any thought of justifying himself.
The size of the sin is not an obstacle to the prayer. It is the argument for it.
The plea would collapse in any human court. That contrast is the point:
Suppose a criminal asked the judge who was trying him to pardon his iniquity because it was great. The whole court, I need hardly say, would stare in amazement at the man's presumption. But what would be presumption to the world and before men is exactly the confidence of faith. That is what God works in a converted soul: integrity of heart in owning and confessing its sins. So there is not only a cleansing of the sins, but a cleansing from all unrighteousness.
Notice what the psalm does not offer as a reason: nothing about the person praying. The appeal is to God's name — that is, to everything God is.
On the ground of these ways of God with sinners, the soul confesses its sins, and appeals to God for pardon on the ground of all that God is — "Your name's sake."
Because the ground is God's own name, the forgiveness cannot be partial or grudging. It is His reputation that is at stake, not ours:
My iniquity is great: if You do not forgive me for Your own glory's sake, You cannot do it at all. And not one spot of sin will He leave, for the comfort of my own heart or the glory of His name.
The greatness of the sin is not brushed aside. It becomes the measure of grace, and of the love that follows.
So the prayer is spoken in confidence: "For Your name's sake, Jehovah, pardon my iniquity, for it is great." Great sin is great need. Great sin pardoned is great grace. Knowing that great sin has been pardoned makes the heart love much. All this the Lord has Himself shown out in the case of the sinful woman in the Pharisee's house. So we find that the fullest gospel is the holiest gospel. We see that grace is the effective conqueror of sin. In this way the Lord makes His name known and glorifies it in forgiving sin.
Where does the boldness to pray like this come from?
The grace of God in giving Christ to suffer on the cross opens their heart to speak out their sins. So they can say, "For Your name's sake, O Jehovah, pardon my iniquity; for it is great." That is indeed the reason. Its greatness, no doubt, needs such a sacrifice. But faced with such a sacrifice, no one asks God to make allowance because the sin was little. On the contrary, they ask Him to pardon it because it was so great.
People try to earn God's goodness by first being upright. This part of the psalm turns that around.
It is only when we are fully convinced that our iniquity is "great" that we feel our need of God and of His pardon... The Lord who is "upright" loves uprightness. But before anything else He wants the wretched sinner to know Him as "good." A soul only half-enlightened knows its faults up to a point, and then wants to reach the enjoyment of God's goodness by its own uprightness. That is proof of a heart which does not know God. Hardness of heart rises against the grace of God.
And the real honesty comes afterwards, not before:
There is never uprightness in the heart until our consciences have seen and felt what we are before God: pardoned sinners. The moment that the soul says, "For Your name's sake, O Jehovah, pardon my iniquity; for it is great," God is certain to show Himself.
- Great need. We feel our need of God's pardon only when we are convinced our iniquity is great. The man who calls his sin small has not yet been taught by God.
- Great confession. Pleading the size of your guilt would be presumption in a human court. Before God it is the confidence of faith, and it works integrity of heart in owning and confessing sin.
- Great ground. The plea rests on nothing in the sinner. It rests on God's name and glory. If He will not forgive for His own glory's sake, He cannot forgive at all.
- Great grace. Great sin pardoned is great grace. Knowing it makes the heart love much, and the fullest gospel proves to be the holiest.
- Great result. God leaves not one spot of sin. Only a conscience that has felt what it is, as a pardoned sinner, becomes upright.
What man is he that feareth Jehovah? him will he instruct in the way [that] he should choose.
Earlier in the psalm the writer begged God to teach him His paths, and here that plea turns into a question with the answer built in. Who receives this teaching, and what is the way God chooses?
The verse is not an isolated promise. It comes as one link in a chain of qualities running through the psalm, each one fitting a person to be taught.
Psalm 25 never mentions the house of God. It deals instead with the different marks of godliness in the believer that fit him to have dealings with God. The prayer is, "Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths." The verses that follow describe what a believer must be like to see the Lord's way. He must be marked by meekness (verse 9), obedience (verse 10), freedom from deceit (verse 11), the fear of the Lord (verses 12 and 14), and a spirit of constant dependence on the Lord (verse 15).
Verse 11 has just asked for pardon. That order — forgiveness, then fear — may look backwards, but it is deliberate.
The fear of Jehovah is the next thing the psalm dwells on. It is where a real knowledge of His grace will always lead. "But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared." We might expect it to say "loved" instead. Yet we can be sure there is no mistake here. The closeness that grace brings — the knowledge of God gained by someone brought to Him — drives out the fear of a slave. It does not produce it.
This is not nervousness about God. It is a settled way of living.
A God-fearing man walks with a conscious sense of being in God's presence, and he owns his responsibility to God. Such a man will not only tell right from wrong. He will also see the path that God marks out for His people in the darkness and confusion all around.
The verse can be read two ways: the way the man should choose, or the way God Himself chooses. The writers here take it as God's own chosen way — a set route, not just a clean conscience.
The man who is guided in judgment will know what is right and do it, and will avoid what is wrong… There was a way God chose while evil was everywhere. The one who feared Jehovah would be taught in this way. He would find the path that led to full blessing. This is a great privilege, and no surrounding darkness or confusion can take it from us. It is the way Jehovah chooses in the middle of it — a special covenant way for those who fear Him.
Because the promise is about the way He chooses, it is possible to be respectable and still miss it entirely.
The man who claims to have the fear of the Lord cares little about being guided "in the way HE chooses." He knows he must walk in ways that are morally right. He measures what that means by a general Christian standard, which may be a little higher than the average conscience of the Christian group he belongs to. But "the way HE chooses" — how little anyone anywhere pays attention to this! How few even notice it is missing!
The verse asks about one man, not a crowd. God's teaching comes to people one at a time.
There is guidance for each of us on our own. God loves to have us set apart for Himself in this way. To each one of us the Lord says, "Follow Me!" Real communion with the Lord always involves this.
The promise does not stop at teaching. What a believer is given today is better than material prosperity.
One who fears the Lord will certainly confess his sins to Him, as in verse 11, and God will honour him for giving Him His place of supreme honour. Verse 13 then promises that he will live in prosperity and that his descendants will inherit the earth. Of course, the child of God today will have higher blessings than this, for we have "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven" (1 Peter 1:4). Our prosperity now may not be material, but spiritual prosperity is far better.
- Pardon — the fear of God grows out of forgiveness, not out of dread. Grace, really known, produces reverence; it does not remove it.
- Presence — to fear the LORD is to live in the sense of His presence and to own your responsibility to Him.
- Path — the promise goes past right and wrong. God shows the way He chooses, and the confusion around us cannot close it.
- Personal — the question asks about one man. God teaches each of us in turn, and to each He says, "Follow Me."
- Portion — the path God shows ends in full blessing, and no darkness or confusion can take it from us.
His soul shall dwell in prosperity, and his seed shall inherit the earth.
In Psalm 25 David admits his sin and asks God to teach him His ways. Verse 13 is the promise that follows, in two halves: rest for the man's own soul, and land for his children.
The promise does not stand alone. It comes right after David owns his guilt and asks for pardon. One writer sees faith already reaching out for the answer.
Led by the Spirit the godly soul anticipates the answer to the confession of sins. He who owns his sin is one that fears God, and will be led in the way of God's choice. He will enjoy soul prosperity; inherit earthly blessing; know the secret of the Lord and escape the snares of the enemy.
The "his" of verse 13 points back to the man who fears the LORD in verse 12. That fear is described not as dread but as living consciously before God, and it carries a practical benefit — the ability to tell which way to walk.
A God-fearing man is one who walks in the conscious sense of being in the presence of God, and who owns his responsibility to God. Such a man will have moral discernment between right and wrong. He will also discern the path that God marks out for His people in the middle of the darkness and confusion around him.
The first half of the verse says where the soul rests. The ESV has "abide in well-being." Older versions put "lodge in goodness" in the margin, and one writer applies that phrase to a traveller still on the road.
The experience of the man "whose eyes look right on" is very different from that of the man "whose eyes are in the ends of the earth." The first man goes straight on his way. His experience will be the record of what he has found in the way of the Lord's choice. It will record the supplies of mercy and truth from Him who has made his soul "lodge in goodness" (Ps. 25:13, margin) while walking in His paths.
The second half hands the land to a seed, and the psalm has already said who these people are: the sinners God teaches, the meek He guides. Forgiveness and inheritance are not two separate tracks.
The sinners whom Jehovah guides and teaches, as He forgives, are the meek who are to inherit the earth, since they alone have uprightness and integrity.
Others describe the same group by what they do rather than what they lack — they trust, and they wait.
They can count on so gracious a God to teach sinners. But these sinners are the meek of the earth who are to inherit it. Integrity of heart marks them, and they trust in Jehovah and wait for Him.
Verse 13 is not an isolated saying. Read alongside verses 11 and 12, it sets out a sequence that a whole block of psalms then unfolds at length.
Psalms 32 – 37 give us the history of the forgiven and justified man. They fully develop the subjects set out in Psalm 25:11-13: pardon, instruction in the way, soul-prosperity, and inheriting the earth.
Does the promise of land belong to readers today? One writer answers by pointing to a portion that is better still.
Of course, the present-day child of God will have higher blessings than this, for we have "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4). Our prosperity now may not be in material blessing, but spiritual prosperity is far better.
- Confession first. Verse 13 comes only after David owns his sin in verse 11. Pardon is the door into everything that follows.
- Fear next. The man who dwells at ease is the man of verse 12. He walks in the sense of God's presence, so he can see the path when all around him is dark.
- Goodness on the way. "Lodging in goodness" means supplies from God along the road, not only a reward at the end.
- Inheritance for the meek. The heirs are the very sinners God forgives and teaches — trusting, waiting, upright in heart.
- A better portion. The land promise stands. But believers now look to an inheritance kept in heaven, and to spiritual prosperity as the greater blessing.
The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear him, that he may make known his covenant to them.
Psalm 25 is the prayer of a man who confesses his sin and asks to be taught God's paths. Verse 14 is where that prayer reaches its highest promise. God shares His mind with certain people. What is this friendship? Who fears Him? What covenant does He make known? (Older translations read "the secret of the LORD"; the commentators below quote it that way.)
The word "secret" here is not about hidden information. It is about how friends talk. One writer contrasts a business conversation with a real friendship:
In business with the world, we say what we must about the matter in hand, as politely as we can. Once we have said it, the matter is over. With a friend, we open our minds, we speak of things that have no connection with business, of everything that is in our hearts. Abraham was called the friend of God. God was not talking with him about the promises made to Abraham himself. He was telling him all His intentions about the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him."
Who counts as one who fears Him? One writer defines him, and then says what he can see:
A God-fearing man is one who walks with the conscious sense of being in God's presence, and who owns his responsibility to God. Such a man will not only tell right from wrong. He will also discern the path that God marks out for His people in the middle of the darkness and confusion around him. The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him. He gives such people to know His mind.
The promise has a limit, and it falls in a surprising place. The line runs through God's own family:
God does not make known His mind and the secret of His ways, nor admit all His children to the intimacy of friendship, and much less the world. Every child of God has the same standing in grace, and enjoys the same life, relationship, and favour. But by no means do all enjoy the same closeness with Him. To know the mind of God, one thing is needed. It is not outward standing, or correct position, or wide knowledge of Scripture. It is a spirit and a life saturated with the fear of God.
God warned one man of the coming judgment and left the other in the dark. The difference was how each man walked:
When the Lord was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation…? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him." … The whole chapter also testifies that the Lord confides His secrets only to those who fear Him. These are secrets of what He is about to do, as well as secrets of instruction. They go only to those who are walking apart from the world in communion with Himself. Lot was left in complete ignorance of Sodom's coming doom until the very eve of the judgment.
The second half of the verse names what God makes known. One writer says "His covenant" here is not the law:
Unbelievers do not perceive such a secret, but those who fear Him enjoy the secret of His presence and blessing. God has hidden such things from the wise and prudent. He has revealed them to babes — those who are simply dependent and trusting. "His covenant" here does not seem to refer to the covenant of law, since all Israel knew that covenant. It must be "the new covenant." That covenant speaks entirely of what God does, and requires nothing from the people but faith.
The result is not more mystery. It is clarity — and it comes at a price:
If a person is not spiritual, he cannot understand: he has no moral or spiritual power to discern God's mind. But where there is spiritual discernment, things become simple and clear as daylight. "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." Where there is the fear of the Lord, there will be understanding of His word and His mind. But the word of God will not be simple without subjection to Him.
- Fear — to fear the Lord is to walk with the conscious sense of being in God's presence, and to own your responsibility to Him.
- Friendship — that fear opens up the way friends talk. God told Abraham not just what concerned Abraham, but what He Himself planned to do.
- Not standing — every child of God shares the same grace and relationship, but not the same closeness. Position and Bible knowledge cannot buy it.
- Covenant — one writer reads what He shows as the new covenant. It rests wholly on what God does, and asks only faith.
- Clarity — the end is seeing God's path in dark and confusing days. But subjection to Him comes first, or His word stays unclear.