Psalms 25:8

25:8 The Lord is both kind and fair; ¹ 

that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live. ² 

Psalms 25:12

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. ³ 

Psalms 27:11

27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; ⁴ 

lead me along a level path ⁵  because of those who wait to ambush me! ⁶ 

Psalms 32:8

32:8 I will instruct and teach you ⁷  about how you should live. ⁸ 

I will advise you as I look you in the eye. ⁹ 

Psalms 64:7

64:7 But God will shoot ¹⁰  at them;

suddenly they will be ¹¹  wounded by an arrow. ¹² 

[25:8]  ¹ tn Heb “good and just.”

[25:8]  ² tn Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”

[25:12]  ³ tn Heb “Who is this man, the one who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The singular (note “man”) is representative here (see v. 14, where the plural is used), and has thus been translated as a plural (“followers…they”).

[27:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles which he expects the psalmist to follow. See Ps 25:4.

[27:11]  ⁶ 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).

[27:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.

[32:8]  ⁷ tn The second person pronominal forms in this verse are singular. The psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually (see also the note on the word “eye” in the next line). A less likely option (but one which is commonly understood) is that the Lord addresses the psalmist in vv. 8-9 (cf. NASB “I will instruct you and teach you…I will counsel you with My eye upon you”).

[32:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will instruct you and I will teach you in the way [in] which you should walk.”

[32:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will advise, upon you my eye,” that is, “I will offer advice [with] my eye upon you.” In 2 Chr 20:12 the statement “our eye is upon you” means that the speakers are looking to the Lord for intervention. Here the expression “my eye upon you” may simply mean that the psalmist will teach his pupils directly and personally.

[64:7]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7-10) was added to the lament after God’s judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist’s lament (vv. 1-6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist’s confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See GKC 329-30 §111.w.

[64:7]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.

[64:7]  ¹¹ tn The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the MT. Another option is to translate, “But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded” (cf. NIV, NRSV).