Psalms 25:21
in Psalms 25May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for thee.
KJV
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
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This verse in Psalms 25
Commentary
17 notes on this verseAnother reason is that your friends lean upon me. Sometimes God frees someone not because of his own merits, but lest friends of God perish together with him upon whom they lean. When he says, "The innocent and upright have clung to me," the innocent …
This site's exposition
Consider my enemies
on Psalms 25:19-22
The enemies are many and their hatred is vicious. The plea for rescue rests on integrity and uprightness and on waiting for God. Verse 22 stands outside the alphabet the psalm has kept, and it prays for all Israel.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
The church says that the innocent and upright have clung to the church, because it waited for the Lord; it would not have been able to love such people, if the church itself were not appearing to take such strength for granted.
"The innocent and the upright have cleaved to me, for I have waited for You, O Lord" [Psalm 25:21]. The innocent and the upright, not in bodily presence only, as the evil, are mingled with me, but in the agreement of the heart in the same innocence and uprightness cleave to me: for I have not fallen away to imitate the evil; but I have waited for You, expecting the winnowing of Your last harvest.
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 -- On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity · Written before 523.
proposed
All those who were reared in the contemplative life, and who never went forth in the ways, or contended and conversed with the multitude, were found to be especially upright and simple, and the integrity which is born from righteousness was found in them, even …
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 5 -- Second Discourse on Simplicity · Written before 523.
proposed
And the blessed David said that the upright and men of integrity clave unto him, and it is well known that integrity is born of simplicity. Now my speech here referreth to the purity of spirit which ariseth in the soul after the flight of …
The church says that the innocent and upright have clung to the church, because it waited for the Lord; it would not have been able to love such people, if the church itself were not appearing to take such strength for granted.
10 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
Placing my hope in you, I took pains to be such a person that innocent people might associate with me and take pleasure in my company.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It is good thus to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. He prays earnestly to God for relief and succour, 1. (1.) See how he begs, [1.] For the remission of sin (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,....
The Nineteenth Century7 voices
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. What better practical safeguards can a man require? If we do not prosper with these as our guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity. Even the ungodly world admits that "honesty is the best policy. " The heir of heaven makes assurance doubly sure, for apart from the rectitude of his public life, he enlists the guardian care of heaven in secret prayer: for I wait on thee.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In conscious innocence of the faults charged by his enemies, he confidently commits his cause to God. Some refer-- integrity, &c.--to God, meaning His covenant faithfulness. This sense, though good, is an unusual application of the terms.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In conscious innocence of the faults charged by his enemies, he confidently commits his cause to God. Some refer-- integrity, &c.--to God, meaning His covenant faithfulness. This sense, though good, is an unusual application of the terms.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. What better practical safeguards can a man require? If we do not prosper with these as our guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity. Even the ungodly world admits that "honesty is the best policy. " The heir of heaven makes assurance doubly sure, for apart from the rectitude of his public life, he enlists the guardian care of heaven in secret prayer: for I wait on thee. To pretend to wait on God without holiness of life is religious hypocrisy, and to trust to out own integrity without calling upon God is presumptuous atheism. Perhaps the integrity and uprightness referred to are those righteous attributes of God, which faith rests upon as a guarantee that the Lord will not forfeit his word.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. What better practical safeguards can a man require? If we do not prosper with these as our guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity. Even the ungodly world admits that "honesty is the best policy. " The heir of heaven makes assurance doubly sure, for apart from the rectitude of his public life, he enlists the guardian care of heaven in secret prayer: for I wait on thee.
Let integrity and uprightness - I wish to have a perfect heart, and an upright life. This seems to be the meaning of these two words.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me - The word here rendered “integrity” means properly “perfection.” See it explained in the notes at Job 1:1. The language here may refer either: (a) to God - as denoting His perfection and uprightness, and then the psalmist’s prayer would be that He, a righteous God, would keep him; or (b) to his own integrity and uprightness of character, and then the prayer would be that that might be the means of keeping him, as the ground of his safety, under the government of a righteous God; or, (c) which I think the more probable meaning, it may be the utterance of a prayer that God would show Himself upright and perfect in protecting one who put his trust in Him; one who was wronged and injured by his fellow-men; one who fled to God for refuge in time of persecution and trouble. It was not exactly the divine perfections, as such, on which he relied; nor was it the integrity and purity of his own life; but it was the government of God, considered as just and equal, as bearing on himself and those who had wronged him. For I wait on thee - That is, I depend on thee, or I rely on thee. This is a reason why he pleaded that God would preserve him. See the notes at Psa 25:20.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תֹּם־ | tom- | integrity | H8537 → | 23 times |
| וָיֹ֥שֶׁר | vayosher | and uprightness | H3476 → | |
| יִצְּר֑וּנִי | yitzeruni | may they preserve me | H5341 → | 63 times |
| כִּ֝֗י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| קִוִּיתִֽיךָ׃ | kiviticha | I have waited for you | H6960 → | 49 times |
| יְהוָה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
תֹּם־integrity
tom-H8537 →23 times
וָיֹ֥שֶׁרand uprightness
vayosherH3476 →
יִצְּר֑וּנִיmay they preserve me
yitzeruniH5341 →63 times
כִּ֝֗יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
קִוִּיתִֽיךָ׃I have waited for you
kivitichaH6960 →49 times
יְהוָהYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 11:3The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the faithless destroys them.
it leads to
- Psalms 26:1
Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 28:18
He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- Proverbs 13:6
Righteousness guards the man of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner.
- John 7:17
If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.
- Proverbs 19:3
A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
- Psalms 26:1
Through
Acts 24:16In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.
- Acts 23:1
Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:2
Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to…
- 1 Timothy 1:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 25; Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 25:21; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 -- On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 5 -- Second Discourse on Simplicity; Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 25:21 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.