Psa 25:6-11 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindness - The word רחמים rachamim, means the commiseration that a man feels in his bowels at the sight of distress. The second word, חסדים chasadim, signifies those kindnesses which are the offspring of a profusion of benevolence. They have been ever of old - Thou wert ever wont to display thyself as a ceaseless fountain of good to all thy creatures.

Psalms 25:6-11

Verse 6

Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindness - The word רחמים rachamim, means the commiseration that a man feels in his bowels at the sight of distress. The second word, חסדים chasadim, signifies those kindnesses which are the offspring of a profusion of benevolence.

They have been ever of old - Thou wert ever wont to display thyself as a ceaseless fountain of good to all thy creatures. Verse 7

Remember not the sins of my youth - Those which I have committed through inconsiderateness, and heat of passion.

According to thy mercy - As it is worthy of thy mercy to act according to the measure, the greatness, and general practice of thy mercy; so give me an abundant pardon, a plentiful salvation.

For thy goodness' sake - Goodness is the nature of God; mercy flows from that goodness. Verse 8

Good and upright is the Lord - He is good in his nature, and righteous in his conduct.

Therefore will he teach sinners - Because he is good, he will teach sinners, though they deserve nothing but destruction: and because he is right, he will teach them the true way. Verse 9

The meek will he guide - ענוים anavim, the poor, the distressed; he will lead in judgment - he will direct them in their cause, and bring it to a happy issue, for he will show them the way in which they should go. Verse 10

All the paths of the Lord - ארחות orchoth signifies the tracks or ruts made by the wheels of wagons by often passing over the same ground. Mercy and truth are the paths in which God constantly walks in reference to the children of men; and so frequently does he show them mercy, and so frequently does he fulfill his truth that his paths are earnestly discerned. How frequent, how deeply indented, and how multiplied are those tracks to every family and individual! Wherever we go, we see that God's mercy and truth have been there by the deep tracks they have left behind them. But he is more abundantly merciful to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies; i.e. those who are conformed, not only to the letter, but to the spirit of his pure religion. Verse 11

For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon - I have sinned; I need mercy; there is no reason why thou shouldst show it, but what thou drawest from the goodness of thy own nature.