Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Yahweh in prayer, positioned between a declaration of God's greatness (v.10) and a vow of praise (v.12). The moment is one of dependence: the speaker asks to be formed, not merely to act.
The words — יַחֵד (yachad), "unite," is rendered "undivided" in the BSB; the literal sense is a joining-together, implying the heart is currently scattered and needs to be gathered into one orientation.
The thread — Psalms 25:4 and 5:8 make the same request for divine instruction in the way, and Jeremiah 32:38 names the covenant relationship this prayer presupposes.
Why it lands — The verse treats moral direction as something received, not achieved, and names dividedness of heart as the specific barrier to fearing God's name.
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
Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 32:38 They will be My people, and I will be their God.
- Psalms 25:4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
- Psalms 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me.
- Psalms 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep them to the end.
- 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.
- Job 34:32 Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’
- Psalms 25:12 Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.
- Psalms 26:3 For Your loving devotion is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.
- Psalms 27:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
- 2 John 1:4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.