Psalms 25:4

25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

Teach me your paths! ¹ 

Psalms 25:8

25:8 The Lord is both kind and fair; ² 

that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live. ³ 

Isaiah 2:3

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 ⁴  he can teach us his requirements, ⁵ 

and ⁶  we can follow his standards.” ⁷ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ⁸ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ⁹ 

Acts 13:10

13:10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, ¹⁰  you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness – will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹ 

¹ sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

² tn Heb “good and just.”

³ tn Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

⁶ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

⁷ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

⁸ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

¹⁰ tn Or “unscrupulousness.”

¹¹ sn “You who…paths of the Lord?” This rebuke is like ones from the OT prophets: Jer 5:27; Gen 32:11; Prov 10:7; Hos 14:9. Five separate remarks indicate the magician’s failings. The closing rhetorical question of v. 10 (“will you not stop…?”) shows how opposed he is to the way of God.