Then I will teach wrongdoers Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you.
- KJV Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
- BSB Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.
- NKJV Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
- NLT Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
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
Once forgiven and restored, David vows to teach transgressors God's ways so sinners may turn to Him. Restored sinners become witnesses of grace.
Overview
David anticipates that his experience of mercy will overflow into ministry, instructing other sinners so they too will be converted to God. Grace received becomes grace shared. This pattern recurs throughout Scripture, as those forgiven much proclaim God's mercy and call others to repentance and faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Luke 22:32but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”
- Jas 5:19–20Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
- Acts 3:19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
- Acts 26:18–20to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
- John 21:15–17So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
- Acts 2:38–41Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Jer 31:18“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
- Acts 15:3They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers.
- Ps 32:8–10I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.
- Ps 32:5I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
- Isa 2:3Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, 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 the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
- Matt 18:3and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Ps 19:7Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.
- Ps 25:8Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
- Isa 6:10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
- 2 Cor 5:8–20We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
- Zech 3:1–8He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
- Acts 9:19–22He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
- 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?
- Ps 25:4Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 51:13 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.