Psalms 25:5

25:5 Guide me into your truth ¹  and teach me.

For you are the God who delivers me;

on you I rely all day long.

Psalms 25:9

25:9 May he show ²  the humble what is right! ³ 

May he teach ⁴  the humble his way!

Psalms 43:3

43:3 Reveal ⁵  your light ⁶  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ⁷ 

they will escort ⁸  me back to your holy hill, ⁹ 

and to the place where you live. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 139:24

139:24 See if there is any idolatrous tendency ¹¹  in me,

and lead me in the reliable ancient path! ¹² 

Psalms 143:10-11

143:10 Teach me to do what pleases you, ¹³ 

for you are my God.

May your kind presence ¹⁴ 

lead me ¹⁵  into a level land. ¹⁶ 

143:11 O Lord, for the sake of your reputation, ¹⁷  revive me! ¹⁸ 

Because of your justice, rescue me from trouble! ¹⁹ 

Nehemiah 9:12

9:12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

Nehemiah 9:19

9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ²⁰  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

Isaiah 49:10

49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;

the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, ²¹ 

for one who has compassion on them will guide them;

he will lead them to springs of water.

Luke 1:79

1:79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, ²² 

to guide our feet into the way ²³  of peace.”

John 16:13

16:13 But when he, ²⁴  the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide ²⁵  you into all truth. ²⁶  For he will not speak on his own authority, ²⁷  but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you ²⁸  what is to come. ²⁹ 

[25:5]  ¹ sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.

[25:9]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.

[25:9]  ³ tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (’anavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.

[25:9]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).

[43:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “send.”

[43:3]  ⁶ sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

[43:3]  ⁷ tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

[43:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “bring.”

[43:3]  ⁹ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

[43:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

[139:24]  ¹¹ tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (’otsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ’otsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[139:24]  ¹² tn Heb “in the path of antiquity.” This probably refers to the moral path prescribed by the Lord at the beginning of Israel’s history. See Jer 6:16; 18:15, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[143:10]  ¹³ tn Or “your will.” See Ps 40:8.

[143:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your good spirit.” God’s “spirit” may refer here to his presence (see the note on the word “presence” in Ps 139:7) or to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).

[143:10]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. Taking the statement as a prayer fits well with the petitionary tone of vv. 7-10a.

[143:10]  ¹⁶ sn A level land (where one can walk free of obstacles) here symbolizes divine blessing and protection. See Pss 26:12 and 27:11 for similar imagery.

[143:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[143:11]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 11-12a are understood as expressing the psalmist’s desire. Note the petitionary tone of vv. 7-10a.

[143:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “by your justice bring out my life from trouble.”

[9:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

[49:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”

[1:79]  ²² sn On the phrases who sit in darkness…and…death see Isa 9:1-2; 42:7; 49:9-10.

[1:79]  ²³ tn Or “the path.”

[16:13]  ²⁴ tn Grk “that one.”

[16:13]  ²⁵ tn Or “will lead.”

[16:13]  ²⁶ sn Three important points must be noted here. (1) When the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide the disciples into all truth. What Jesus had said in 8:31-32, “If you continue to follow my teaching you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” will ultimately be realized in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus’ departure. (2) The things the Holy Spirit speaks to them will not be things which originate from himself (he will not speak on his own authority), but things he has heard. This could be taken to mean that no new revelation is involved, as R. E. Brown does (John [AB], 2:714-15). This is a possible but not a necessary inference. The point here concerns the source of the things the Spirit will say to the disciples and does not specifically exclude originality of content. (3) Part at least of what the Holy Spirit will reveal to the disciples will concern what is to come, not just fuller implications of previous sayings of Jesus and the like. This does seem to indicate that at least some new revelation is involved. But the Spirit is not the source or originator of these things – Jesus is the source, and he will continue to speak to his disciples through the Spirit who has come to indwell them. This does not answer the question, however, whether these words are addressed to all followers of Jesus, or only to his apostles. Different modern commentators will answer this question differently. Since in the context of the Farewell Discourse Jesus is preparing the twelve to carry on his ministry after his departure, it is probably best to take these statements as specifically related only to the twelve. Some of this the Holy Spirit does directly for all believers today; other parts of this statement are fulfilled through the apostles (e.g., in giving the Book of Revelation the Spirit speaks through the apostles to the church today of things to come). One of the implications of this is that a doctrine does not have to be traced back to an explicit teaching of Jesus to be authentic; all that is required is apostolic authority.

[16:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “speak from himself.”

[16:13]  ²⁸ tn Or will announce to you.”

[16:13]  ²⁹ tn Grk “will tell you the things to come.”