To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
Parallel translations
- WEB With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.
- KJV With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
- NKJV With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
- NASB ¶With the faithful You show Yourself faithful; With the blameless You prove Yourself blameless;
- NLT To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.
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
God shows himself merciful to the merciful and blameless to the blameless. It matters because God deals with people in ways that correspond to their character.
Overview
David observes a principle of God's dealings: to the merciful he shows mercy, and to the blameless he shows himself blameless. God's responses fittingly answer the moral character of those before him. This does not earn salvation but reflects God's just and faithful nature, fully revealed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 5:7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
- Ps 62:12and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.
- Matt 18:33–35Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’
- Neh 9:17They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.
- Ezek 18:25–30Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
- 1 Kgs 8:32then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
- Ps 41:1–4For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.
- Ps 112:4–6Light dawns in the darkness for the upright—for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous.
- Rom 9:14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not!
- Luke 6:35–38But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
- Isa 58:7–8Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
- Isa 57:1–2The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
- Isa 26:7The path of the righteous is level; You clear a straight path for the upright.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:25 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.