I recounted my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your statutes.
Parallel translations
- WEB I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.
- KJV I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
- NKJV I have declared my ways, and You answered me; Teach me Your statutes.
- NASB I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes.
- NLT I told you my plans, and you answered. Now teach me your decrees.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The psalmist recounted his ways, God answered him, and he asks to be taught God's statutes. It matters because honest openness before God leads to instruction in His word.
Overview
The psalmist lays his life open before God, who responds, and then asks to be taught God's statutes further. Confession and teachability go together in his walk. This reflects the gospel posture of bringing our ways into God's light and submitting to be shaped by His word through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 86:11Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.
- Ps 25:4Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
- Ps 27:11Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
- Ps 32:5Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
- Prov 28:13He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- Ps 25:8–9Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.
- Ps 143:8–10Let 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.
- Ps 38:18Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
- Ps 119:12Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.
- 1 Kgs 8:36then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.
- Ps 119:106I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.
- Ps 51:1–19For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 119:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.