Acrostic Psalm 25

Easter Weekend

NRSV Psalm 25: 1-5

To you O Lord I lift up my soul

O my God in you I trust

Do not let me be ashamed

Do not let my enemies exult over me

Make me know your ways

Teach me your paths

Lead me in your truth and teach me

For you are the God of my salvation

For you I wait all the day

On Easter Weekend some friends enjoyed a drive in the Highlands, Balahulish and Nunraw monastery.
The scenery was glorious in the sunshine and took advantage of taking pictures en route. Quickly after returning home they sent us a PowerPoint show making a theme of the scenes with text of Psalm 25: 1-7.


This is one of the acrostic Psalms is another very interesting play of the Hebrew writers.

The pictures send me to study the different versions of this alphabet acrostic Psalm.

Mgr. Knox Bible Psalm 24(25) An Alphabet of Trust (Of David.) 1) All my heart goes out to thee, 2) O Lord my God. Belie not the trust I have in thee, let not my enemies boast of my downfall. 3) Can any that trust in thee be disappointed, as they are disappointed who lightly break their troth? 4) Direct my way, Lord, as thou wilt, teach me thy own paths. 5) Ever let thy truth guide and teach me, O God my deliverer, my abiding hope. 6) Forget not, Lord, thy pity, thy mercies of long ago. 7) Give heed no more to the sins and frailties of my youth, but think mercifully of me, as thou, Lord, art ever gracious. 8) How gracious is the Lord, how faithful, guiding our strayed feet back to the path! 9) In his own laws he will train the humble, in his own paths the humble he will guide. 10) Jealous be thy keeping of covenant and ordinance, and the Lord's dealings will be ever gracious, ever faithful with thee. 11) Kindly be thy judgement of my sin, for thy own honour's sake, my grievous sin. 12) Let a man but fear the Lord, what path to choose he doubts no longer. 13) Much joy he shall have of his lands and to his heirs leave them. 14) No stranger the Lord is, no secret his covenant, to his true worshippers. 15) On the Lord I fix my eyes continually, trusting him to save my feet from the snare. 16) Pity me, Lord, as thou seest me friendless and forlorn. 17) Quit my heart of its burden, deliver me from my distress. 18) Restless and forlorn, I claim thy pity, to my sins be merciful. 19) See how many are my foes, and how bitter is the grudge they bear me. 20) Take my soul into thy keeping; come to my rescue, do not let me be disappointed of my trust in thee. 21) Uprightness and purity be my shield, as I wait patiently, Lord, for thy help. 22) When wilt thou deliver Israel, my God, from all his troubles?

New Jerusalem Bible Psalm 25: 1-23 1) Aleph ADORATION I offer, Yahweh, to you, my God. 2) Bet BUT in my trust in you do not put me to shame, let not my enemies gloat over me. 3) Gimel CALLING to you, none shall ever be put to shame, but shame is theirs who groundlessly break faith. 4) Dalet DIRECT me in your ways, Yahweh, and teach me your paths. 5) He ENCOURAGE me to walk in your truth and teach me since you are the God who saves me. 6) (Waw) FOR my hope is in you all day long -- such is your generosity, Yahweh. 7) Zain GOODNESS and faithful love have been yours for ever, Yahweh, do not forget them. 8) Het HOLD not my youthful sins against me, but remember me as your faithful love dictates. 9) Tet INTEGRITY and generosity are marks of Yahweh for he brings sinners back to the path. 10) Yod JUDICIOUSLY he guides the humble, instructing the poor in his way. 11) Kaph KINDNESS unfailing and constancy mark all Yahweh's paths, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. 12) Lamed LET my sin, great though it is, be forgiven, Yahweh, for the sake of your name. 13) Mem MEN who respect Yahweh, what of them? He teaches them the way they must choose. 14) Nun NEIGHBOURS to happiness will they live, and their children inherit the land. 15) Samek ONLY those who fear Yahweh have his secret and his covenant, for their understanding. 16) Ain PERMANENTLY my eyes are on Yahweh, for he will free my feet from the snare. 17) Pe QUICK, turn to me, pity me, alone and wretched as I am! 18) Zade RELIEVE the distress of my heart, bring me out of my constraint. 19) (Qoph) SPARE a glance for my misery and pain, take all my sins away. 20) Resh TAKE note how countless are my enemies, how violent their hatred for me. 21) Shin UNLESS you guard me and rescue me I shall be put to shame, for you are my refuge. 22) Taw VIRTUE and integrity be my protection, for my hope, Yahweh, is in you. Ransom Israel, O God, from all its troubles. Of David

Psalm 25

It is enough to read the psalm as you prayerfully listen for what God will say to you in those ancient words. However, if you wish to go deeper, continue with the study that follows. It is intended for personal reflection or for family or group conversation.

About the Psalm

Psalm 25 is a prayer song. It is written in acrostic form meaning that the first letter of each line is the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet as was the case with Psalms 9 and 10 studied earlier.

The psalmist appeals several times to God’s “hesed” – “steadfast love and faithfulness.” This psalm alternates sections that express trust in the Lord with petitions that ask something of the Lord. Many things are requested perhaps because the poet needs to work in all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The psalm begins with the line “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” The traditional posture of prayer for Jewish people is to stand with arms raised and palms facing to heaven. This first line is a spiritual description of that that posture of prayer intends. (Prince of Peace online)

[Psalm 25] In the Hebrew original this psalm is an alphabetic poem: the first letters of the lines follow the Hebrew alphabet. The result is a patchwork of standard formulas adding up to a prayer interrupted by lines of Jewish wisdom and covering a number of concepts and attitudes going back to very different layers of the Old Testament tradition: the Covenant, the sufferings at the hands of (pagan) enemies, awareness of sin and prayer for repentance and salvation, "the way" after the fashion of Deuteronomy and the Wisdom books, and the frame of mind of the anawim, the poor of the Lord, who await their rescue from oppression from God alone.

The surprising feature of this psalm, however, is its unity of atmosphere, which shows how all the major elements of the variegated tradition of the Old Testament were eventually fused in the spirituality, at once simple and full of ardour, of the pious Jews after the period of exile, a few centuries B.C. - "This is also the witness of the holy Spirit to us. For first he says: 'This is the covenant I will make with them one day, says the Lord; I put my laws in their hearts, I stamp them on their minds.' And then: 'I will no longer remember their sins and their evil acts.' But where these are forgiven there is no need for a propitiating sacrifice any more. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we may confidently go up to God's holy place in virtue of the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the temple-veil of his own body" (Heb. 10. 15-20). (Fifty Psalms B&O London 1968)