Psalms 5:8

Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Lead	נְחֵ֬נִי ne.Che.ni	H5148	to guide · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
LORD	יְהוָ֤ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
righteousness	בְצִדְקָתֶ֗ךָ ve.tzid.ka.Te.cha	H6666	rightness (abstractly) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
enemies	שׁוֹרְרָ֑י sho.Rai	H8324	to be hostile (only active participle an opponent) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
way	דַּרְכֶּֽךָ dar.Ke.kha	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
straight	הַיְשַׁ֖ר ho.shar	H3474	to be straight or even · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
face	לְפָנַ֣י le.fa.Nai	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix

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

Psalms 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
Psalms 25:4-5 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Psalms 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
Psalms 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Psalms 143:8-10 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my…
Proverbs 4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Psalms 119:64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 5:7–end

In these verses David gives three characters - of himself, of his enemies, and of all the people of God, and subjoins a prayer to each of them. I. He gives an account of himself and prays for himself, Psa 5:7, Psa 5:8. 1. He is stedfastly resolved to keep closely to God and to his worship. Sinners go away from God, and so make themselves odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his justice: "But, as for me, that shall not keep me from thee." God's holiness and justice are so far from being a terror to the upright in heart, to drive them from God, that they are rather by them invited to cleave to him. David resolves, (1.) To worship God, to pay his homage to him, and give unto God the glory du…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 5:8

enemies--literally, "watchers" (Psa 27:11), hence special need of guidance. in thy righteousness--an attribute implying faithfulness in promises as well as threatenings. make thy way straight--that is, make the way of providence plain.

John Gill on Psalms 5:8

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness,.... Not in mine, but thine; in the righteousness of God, which is revealed in the Gospel, from faith to faith, and is imputed by God, and received by faith; in this righteousness the psalmist desired to be led into the house of God, and appear before him; nor is there any other righteousness in which man can stand before God and worship. Or else the sense is, that God would lead him in the way of righteousness, in his righteous statutes, judgments, and ordinances; in which way the Lord does lead his people, Psalm 23:3. Or that he would lead him for his righteousness' sake; because of his faithfulness to his promises, that he would direct, uphold, and ne…

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John Calvin on Psalms 5:8-10

Psalm 5:8-10 8. O Jehovah, lead me forth in thy righteousness, because of mine adversaries: make thy way straight before my face. 9. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward parts are very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they deal deceitfully 10. Cause them to err, O God; let them fall from their counsels; destroy them in the multitude [74] of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. 8. O Jehovah, lead me forth, etc. Some explain these words thus: Show me what is right, and make me wholly devoted to the practice of that righteousness which adorns thy character; and do this because of my adversaries; for the saints, impell…

The Church Fathers

And again he saith, "Lead me, O Lord, in Thy fear and righteousness", and because he knew what the profit of the fear of God was, he asked it as a gift from God. For all the conversation of the soul which the fear of God leadeth standeth in righteousness.
— Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 7 -- Second Discourse on the Fear of God

"Direct in Your sight my way." [Psalm 5:8] Nothing is clearer, than that he here sets forth that time, in which he is journeying onward. For this is a way which is traversed not in any regions of the earth, but in the affections of the heart. "In Your sight," he says, "direct my way:" that is, where no man sees; who are not to be trusted in their praise or blame. For they can in no wise judge of another man's conscience, wherein the way toward God is traversed.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 5

One who wishes to know and to act rightly has many adversaries. There are people and demons full of envy whom the good deeds of those acting uprightly torment. The prophet, when he understood this, did not allow himself to fight by his own strength against those who rose up against him, but he called on God to extend his hand by which he could escape unharmed from so many enemies, saying, "You, O Lord, lead me in your righteousness; then it will happen that my path may be directed in your sight."
— Origen of Alexandria, SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 5:11

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

Nehiloth — Only in the title of Ps. 5. It is probably derived from a root meaning “to bore,” “perforate,” and hence denotes perforated wind instruments of all kinds. The psalm may be thus regarded as addressed…
Righteousness Of God, The · We should pray: To be led in — We should pray: To be led in

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).

Psalms 5:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 5:7–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 5:8

John Gill on Psalms 5:8

John Calvin on Psalms 5:8-10

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 5:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 5:7–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 5:8

John Gill on Psalms 5:8

John Calvin on Psalms 5:8-10

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 5:7-9

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 5:8

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 5:8