He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.
Parallel translations
- WEB He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.
- KJV The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
- BSB He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.
- ESV He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
- NKJV The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.
- NLT He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.
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
God guides and teaches the humble in justice and his way. The lowly and teachable are the ones God leads.
Overview
This verse declares that God directs the humble in what is right and instructs them in his way. Humility, a teachable and dependent spirit, is the condition for receiving God's guidance. The proud resist instruction, but the lowly are led by God, a pattern fulfilled in Christ, who is gentle and lowly and welcomes the humble to learn from him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 28
- Prov 3:5–6Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
- Ps 23:3He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
- Matt 5:5Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
- John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- 1 Pet 3:15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
- Gal 5:23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
- Ezek 36:27I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
- Ps 149:4For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation.
- Zeph 2:3Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger.
- Ps 143:10Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
- Ps 147:6Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.
- Ps 119:66Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.
- Ezek 11:19–20I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
- Jas 1:21Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
- Isa 42:1–3“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights — I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
- 1 Pet 3:4but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God very precious.
- Ps 22:26The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.
- Ps 32:8–9I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.
- Ps 27:11Teach me your way, Yahweh. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.
- Ps 73:24You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
- Ps 76:9when God arose to judgment, to save all the afflicted ones of the earth. Selah.
- Prov 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness, in the middle of the paths of justice;
- Heb 10:20by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
- Ps 119:35Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.
- Isa 11:4but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
- Isa 61:1The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
- Acts 13:10and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
- Acts 9:2and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
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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 25:9 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.