Bible Strands
Psalms 25:4
Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Yahweh immediately after stating a general principle about the fate of those who wait on God versus those who act treacherously. The speaker transitions from corporate observation to personal petition.
The words — הוֹדִיעֵ֑/נִי (ho.di.'E./ni) means "make known to me," and לַמְּדֵֽ/נִי (la.me.De./ni) means "teach me." Both verbs frame the verse as a direct request for divine instruction.
The thread — This petition for God to reveal His way and teach the path appears in Psalms 86:11, Psalms 143:8, and Psalms 27:11. Each instance follows a context of distress or reliance on divine guidance.
Why it lands — The verse demands that a reader acknowledge their need for external, divine direction rather than assuming self-sufficiency. It frames obedience as a learned response to revealed instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
Cross-references
- Psalms 86:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.
- Psalms 143:8 Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.
- Psalms 27:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
- Psalms 119:27 Make clear to me the way of Your precepts; then I will meditate on Your wonders.
- Exodus 33:13 Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.”
- Psalms 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me.
- Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’
- Isaiah 2:3 And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- Proverbs 8:20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
- Psalms 5:1 For the choirmaster, to be accompanied by flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.