119:12 You deserve praise, 1 O Lord!
Teach me your statutes!
119:26 I told you about my ways 2 and you answered me.
Teach me your statutes!
27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; 3
lead me along a level path 4 because of those who wait to ambush me! 5
2:3 many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
so 6 he can teach us his requirements, 7
and 8 we can follow his standards.” 9
For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; 10
the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. 11
48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, 12 says,
the Holy One of Israel: 13
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should go.
48:18 If only you had obeyed my 14 commandments,
prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, 15
deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. 16
1 tn Heb “[are] blessed.”
2 tn Heb “my ways I proclaimed.”
3 tn Heb “teach me your way.” The
4 sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).
5 tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.
6 tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).
7 tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.
8 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.
9 tn Heb “walk in his ways.”
10 tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”
11 tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
12 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
13 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
14 tn Heb “paid attention to” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “had listened to.”
15 tn Heb “like a river your peace would have been.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom) probably refers here to the peace and prosperity which God promised in return for obedience to the covenant.
16 tn Heb “and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) probably refers here to divine deliverance from enemies. See v. 19.
17 sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.