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Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.
Psalms 86:11 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.
  • KJV Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
  • NKJV Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
  • NASB ¶Teach me Your way, Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
  • NLT Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor 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

David asks God to teach him His way and to unite his heart to fear God's name. He prays for an undivided heart devoted to God.

Overview

This rich petition seeks both instruction in God's way and an integrated, wholehearted reverence, free from divided loyalties. It recognizes that a single-minded devotion is itself God's gift. It anticipates the new-covenant promise of a heart transformed by the Spirit to know and walk in God's truth, supremely revealed in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 27

  • Jer 32:38–39They will be My people, and I will be their God.
  • Ps 25:4–5Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
  • Ps 5:8Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me.
  • Ps 119:33Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep them to the end.
  • 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.
  • Job 34:32Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’
  • Ps 25:12Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.
  • Ps 27:11Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
  • Ps 26:3For Your loving devotion is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.
  • 2 Jn 1:4I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.
  • John 17:20–21I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message,
  • Col 3:22–23Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of the Lord.
  • Ps 119:73Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
  • 3 Jn 1:3–4For I was overjoyed when the brothers came and testified about your devotion to the truth, in which you continue to walk.
  • Col 3:17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
  • 1 Cor 10:21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.
  • Eph 4:21Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus—
  • Mal 2:6True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
  • Ps 119:30I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
  • Hos 14:8O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.
  • John 6:45–46It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—
  • 1 Cor 6:17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.
  • Matt 6:22–24The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
  • Acts 2:46With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,
  • Zeph 1:5those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
  • 2 Cor 11:3I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
  • Hos 10:2Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 86:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 86:11 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.