Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Parallel translations
- WEB Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
- BSB Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
- ESV Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
- NKJV Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.
- NASB ¶Make me know Your ways, Lord; Teach me Your paths.
- NLT Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
David asks God to show him his ways and teach him his paths. He desires to be led in the way of God's will.
Overview
This prayer expresses a humble longing to know and walk in God's ways, dependent on God as the teacher. It assumes that the right path is not self-evident but must be revealed by God. Believers similarly look to God, who guides his people by his Word and Spirit and supremely in Christ, who is himself the way.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 86:11Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
- Ps 143:8Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
- Ps 27:11Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
- Ps 119:27Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
- Ps 5:8Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
- Exod 33:13Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
- Jer 6:16Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
- Isa 2:3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- Prov 8:20I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
- Ps 5:1Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 25:4 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.