Psalms 85:13
in Psalms 85Righteousness will go before Him to prepare the way for His steps.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Righteousness shall go before him, And shall make his footsteps a way to walk in.
KJV
Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
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This verse in Psalms 85
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAll these things, indeed, we have said concerning the mercy of the Lord, since He came for this purpose, to save the human race. Nevertheless we ought to know that He Himself is to judge the living and the dead, He Himself will come to judge. Righteousness shall walk before Him. Do not be negligent: Righteousness shall walk before Him. And He shall set His steps in the way. See what it says, His steps: where there are no stones, where there are no thorns and thistles, where the way is level, where He can walk, where He cannot stumble.
This site's exposition
will indeed provide what is good
on Psalms 85:12-13
The stanza comes down to a harvest, the land yielding its increase. Righteousness walks ahead of God in verse 13 and makes the road ready for His steps. The last picture is God walking a prepared road.
This site's exposition
prepare the way for His steps
Charles Spurgeon saw the path as a track God's people follow behind Him. Matthew Henry and Albert Barnes heard in it the work of John the Baptist. He preached righteousness ahead of Christ and prepared His way.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
You have covered all their sins, and right up to the end the psalm is about the coming of the Savior, as I said. Mercy and truth. Nevertheless His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. For truly the glory of God dwelt in our land, and thereafter righteousness looked down from heaven. For the Lord shall give loving-kindness. What loving-kindness? Our land shall yield its fruit. Mary, our land, our flesh, yielded her fruit. Righteousness shall walk before Him. The virgin land gave forth its righteous fruit.
There are many things which might be said, but the hour compels the sermon to reach its end. Let us together pray to the Lord, that both my speech and your hearing may be turned into work. "For not the hearers only are just before God, but the doers." For he who speaks or hears, and does not do, either listens or speaks unto his own condemnation. For what does he say in the gospel? "If you were blind, you would not have sin." Let us turn that around in another way: If you were deaf, and did not hear, you would not have sin. But because both to speak and to hear without work are each of them sin, let us ask the Lord to set his steps upon the way — that is, that he may accompany us in the perils of this life, and, walking in our heart without the offense of our sin, may delight to dwell in us always. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Christ, the sun of righteousness, shall bring us to God, and put us into the way that leads to him. John Baptist, a preacher of righteousness, shall go before Christ to prepare his way. Righteousness is a sure guide both in meeting God and in following him.
Before him - As his harbinger. He shall fulfil all righteousness, he shall satisfy the righteousness of God, and shall advance righteousness and holiness among men.
Righteousness shall go before him,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. God's march of right will leave a track wherein his people will joyfully follow. He who smote in justice will also bless in justice, and in both will make his righteousness manifest, so as to affect the hearts and lives of all his people. Such are the blessings of our Lord's first advent, and such shall be yet more conspicuously the result of his second coming. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Righteousness shall go before him - Perhaps this verse may receive its best solution from Rom 3:25: “Whom God hath set for a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past.” This term the apostle uses to point out God’s method of justifying or saving mankind. And this, in the preaching of the pure Gospel, is ever going before to point out the Lord Jesus, and the redemption that is in his blood. And thus going before him, the sinner, who feels his need of salvation, is Set - in the way of his steps; as Bartimeus sat by the way-side begging, by which way Jesus walked; and when he came where he was, heard his prayer, and restored him his sight. Or, righteousness - the pure and holy law of God, must be proclaimed as broken by sinners, and calling aloud for vengeance, before they can see and feel their need of Christ crucified. By the preaching of the law they are prepared to receive the grace of the Gospel.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Righteousness shall go before him - Shall anticipate his coming, and prepare his way. The idea seems to be, that in order to his appearing, there would be a proclamation of righteousness, and a preparation for his advent by the diffusion of righteousness among the people; in other words, the nation, in the prospect of his coming, would turn from sin, and would seek to be prepared for his appearing. Thus John proclaimed the coining of the Redeemer, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Mat 3:2. So also “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Mat 3:3. And shall set us in the way of his steps - This might be rendered, “and set its steps for a way;” that is, the steps which would be taken by him would indicate the way in which his people should walk. Perhaps, however, the common interpretation best expresses the sense of the passage. According to that, the idea is, that the effect of his coming would be to dispose people to walk in the way of the steps which he took; to be his imitators and followers. The general thought is, that his coming would have the effect of turning the people to the paths of righteousness and truth. This is the designed effect of all the visitations of God to our world.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
God too will give good He will open His treasury, the heavens, to give rain, in order that His land yield its produce.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Truth will sprout from the earth, etc. When Israel will speak truth, the charity that they perform on earth will look down from heaven.
and He will place it on the way of his steps And the Holy One, blessed be He, will place the righteousness in the ways of his steps, with which he leads his sons.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| צֶ֭דֶק | tzedek | righteousness | H6664 → | 119 times |
| לְפָנָ֣יו | lefanav | <to> before him | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יְהַלֵּ֑ךְ | yehalekh | it will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וְיָשֵׂ֖ם | veyasem | and it will make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| לְדֶ֣רֶךְ | lederekh | to [the] way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| פְּעָמָֽיו׃ | peamav | footsteps his | H6471 → | 118 times |
צֶ֭דֶקrighteousness
tzedekH6664 →119 times
לְפָנָ֣יו<to> before him
lefanavH6440 →2123 times
יְהַלֵּ֑ךְit will go
yehalekhH1980 →1546 times
וְיָשֵׂ֖םand it will make
veyasemH7760 →584 times
לְדֶ֣רֶךְto [the] way of
lederekhH1870 →707 times
פְּעָמָֽיו׃footsteps his
peamavH6471 →118 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
2 Corinthians 3:18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of…
- Ephesians 4:22–24
to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- 2 Corinthians 4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- 1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6
Through
John 13:34A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- John 15:17
This is My command to you: Love one another.
- Ephesians 5:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 17, on Psalm 84; Jerome, Homily 64, on Psalm 84 (Alternate Series); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.