a well-trodden road (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine plural construct
LORD
יְ֭הוָהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
mercy
חֶ֣סֶדChe.sed
H2617
kindness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
truth
וֶאֱמֶ֑תve.'e.Met
H571
stability · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
keep
לְנֹצְרֵ֥יle.no.tze.Rei
H5341
to guard · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
covenant
בְ֝רִית֗וֹve.ri.To
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
testimonies
וְעֵדֹתָֽיוve.'e.do.Tav
H5713
testimony · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pit…
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Psalms 40:11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Hebrews 8:8-12 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and w…
Psalms 103:17-18 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Psalms 119:75-76 I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
Romans 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 25:8-14
God's promises are here mixed with David's prayers. Many petitions there were in the former part of the psalm, and many we shall find in the latter; and here, in the middle of the psalm, he meditates upon the promises, and by a lively faith sucks and is satisfied from these breasts of consolation; for the promises of God are not only the best foundation of prayer, telling us what to pray for and encouraging our faith and hope in prayer, but they are a present answer to prayer. Let the prayer be made according to the promise, and then the promise may be read as a return to the prayer; and we are to believe the prayer is heard because the promise will be performed. But, in the midst of the pro…
paths--similar sense--His modes of dealing (compare Psa 25:4).
mercy and truth-- (Job 14:1-22), God's grace in promising and faithfulness in performing.
John Gill on Psalms 25:10
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,.... By which are meant, not the paths in which the Lord would have his people walk; though these are good and gracious, right and true; his commandments are not grievous, his yoke is easy, and burden light; his ways are ways of pleasantness, and his paths, paths of peace: but rather the paths in which the Lord himself walks; not his paths of providence, though these are mercy and truth to his own people; every step he takes is in a way of goodness and kindness to them, and in truth and faithfulness to his promises; but the ways and methods he has taken towards the spiritual and eternal salvation of his people; as in his counsels and purposes, in…
Psalm 25:8-11
8. Good and upright is Jehovah; therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 9. He will guide the poor in judgment, and will teach the poor [557] his way. 10. All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth, to those who keep his covenant and his testimony. 11. For thy name's sake, O Jehovah! be thou merciful to mine iniquity, for it is great.
8. Good and upright is Jehovah. Pausing for a little as it were in the prosecution of his prayer, he exercises his thoughts in meditation upon the goodness of God, that he may return with renewed ardor to prayer. The faithful feel that their hearts soon languish in prayer, unless they are constantly stirring themselves up to it by new incite…
The Church Fathers
These are the ways of the Lord. Now, he habitually links truth and mercy, as if to say, this is God's work, this his way, this his action, to accord secure and true salvation to those he has chosen.
Those constantly reared on the sacred Words have a precise knowledge from them that all the dispensations of God our Savior are tempered with mercy and truth: to some, who repent of sins committed, he extends mercy and pardon; others unconquered he proclaims and crowns as champions of virtue, giving his verdict with truth, while admittedly on those caught up in lawlessness and not taking advantage of repentance he inflicts punishments in terms of the standard of truth.
"All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth" [Psalm 25:10]. And what ways will He teach them, but mercy wherein He is placable, and truth wherein He is incorrupt? Whereof He has exhibited the one in forgiving sins, the other in judging deserts. And therefore "all the ways of the Lord" are the two advents of the Son of God, the one in mercy, the other in judgment. He then attains unto Him holding on His ways, who seeing himself freed by no deserts of his own, lays pride aside, and henceforward bewares of the severity of His trial, having experienced the clemency of His help. "To them that seek His testament and His testimonies." For they understand the Lord as merciful at His first advent, and as the Judge at His second, who in meekness and gentleness seek His testament, when with His Own Blood He redeemed us to a new life; and in the Prophets and Evangelists, His testimonies.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Manna — Heb. man-hu, “What is that?” the name given by the Israelites to the food miraculously supplied to them during their wanderings in the wilderness (Ex. 16:15-35). The name is commonly taken as derived…
Obedience · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Truth Of God, The · Exhibited in his: Dealings with saints — Exhibited in his: Dealings with saints
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The paths intended, are those which He takes with men in accordance with His revealed will and counsel. These paths are חסד loving-kindness, mercy, or grace, for the salvation of men is their goal, and אמת truth, for they give proof at every step of the certainty of His promises. But only they who keep His covenant and His testimonies faithfully and obediently shall share in this mercy and truth. To the psalmist the name of Jahve, which unfolds itself in mercy and truth, is precious. Upon it he bases the prayer that follows.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 25:8-10
The Lord keeps his people close to himself.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 25:10
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
This is a rule without exception. God is good to those that be good. Mercy and faithfulness shall abound towards those who through mercy are made faithful. Whatever outward appearances may threaten we should settle it steadfastly in our minds that while grace enables us to obey the Lord's will we need not fear that Providence will cause us any real loss. There shall be mercy in every unsavoury morsel, and faithfulness in every bitter drop; let not our hearts be troubled, but let us rest by faith in the immutable covenant of Jehovah, which is ordered in all things and sure. Yet this is not a gen…
