Psalms 86:11
in Psalms 86Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Teach me thy way, O Jehovah; I will walk in thy truth: Unite my heart to fear thy name.
KJV
Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
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This verse in Psalms 86
Commentary
9 notes on this verseTeach me thy way, O Lord,.... The methods of thy grace, which thou hast taken, and dost take, in the salvation of men, in the contrivance, impetration, and application of it; or the way which thou hast marked out for thy people to walk in, the way of thy commandments: each of these the psalmist had knowledge of before; but he desires to be more and more instructed therein, as every good man does; see Psa 25:
This site's exposition
Teach me Your way, O LORD
on Psalms 86:11-13
Verse 11 asks for an undivided heart. The Hebrew verb is yachad, to become one, so the request is for a heart made single toward the fear of God's name. Verse 13 looks back on a rescue already given, from the depths of Sheol, which the Hebrew calls the lowermost.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Lead me, O Lord, in Your way, and I will walk in Your truth" [Psalm 86:11]. Your way, Your truth, Your life, is Christ. Therefore belongs the Body to Him, and the Body is of Him. I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. [John 14:6] "Lead me, O Lord, in Your way." In what way? "And I will walk in Your truth." It is one thing to lead to the way, another to guide in the way. Behold man everywhere poor, everywhere in need of help. Those who are beside the way are not Christians, or not yet Catholics: let them be guided to the way: but when they have been brought to the way and made Catholics in Christ, they must be guided by Him in the way itself, lest they fall. Now assuredly they walk in the way. "Lead me, O Lord, in Your way:" surely I am now in Your way, lead me there. "And I will walk in Your truth:" while You lead I shall not err: if Thou let me go, I shall err. Pray then that He let you not go, but lead you even to the end. How does He lead you? By always admonishing, always giving you His hand. And the arm of the Lord, to whom is it revealed? [Isaiah 53:1] For in giving His Christ He gives His hand: in giving His hand, He gives His Christ. He leads to the way, in leading to His Christ: He leads in the way, by leading in His Christ, and Christ is truth. "Lead me," therefore, "O Lord, in Your way, and I will walk in Your truth:" in Him verily who said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." [John 14:6] For Thou who leadest in the way and the truth, whither leadest Thou, but unto life? In Him then, unto Him You lead.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureItinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Lead me, O Lord, in Your way, and I shall walk in Your truth; let my heart rejoice, that it may fear Your name. In praying this prayer, we are illuminated to know the stages of the divine ascent. For since, according to the state …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
I will walk in thy truth. One would think it should be, Teach me thy truth, and I will walk in thy way; but it comes all to one; it is the way of truth that God teaches and that we must choose to walk in, Ps. cxix. Christ is the way and the truth, and we must both learn Christ and walk in him.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Teach me thy way, O Lord. Instruct me thus at all times, let me live in thy school; but teach me now especially since I am in trouble and perplexity. Be pleased to shew me the way which thy wisdom and mercy have prepared for my escape; behold I lay aside all wilfulness, and only desire to be informed as to thy holy and gracious mind. Not my way give me, but thy way teach me, I would follow thee and not be wilful. I will walk in thy truth.
Teach me thy way, O Lord. Instruct me thus at all times, let me live in thy school; but teach me now especially since I am in trouble and perplexity. Be pleased to shew me the way which thy wisdom and mercy have prepared for my escape; behold I lay aside all wilfulness, and only desire to be informed as to thy holy and gracious mind. Not my way give me, but thy way teach me, I would follow thee and not be wilful. I will walk in thy truth. When taught I will practise what I know, truth shall not be a mere doctrine or sentiment to me, but a matter of daily life. The true servant of God regulates his walk by his master's will, and hence he never walks deceitfully, for God's way is ever truth. Providence has a way for us, and it is our wisdom to keep in it. We must not be as the bullock which needs to be driven and urged forward because it likes not the road, but be as men who voluntarily go where their trusted friend and helper appoints their path. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Having taught me one way, give me one heart to walk therein, for too often I feel a heart and a heart, two natures contending, two principles struggling for sovereignty. Our minds are apt to be divided between a variety of objects, like trickling streamlets which waste their force in a hundred runnels; our great desire should be to have all our life floods poured into one channel and to have that channel directed towards the Lord alone. A man of divided heart is weak, the man of one object is the man. God who created the bands of our nature can draw them together, tighten, strengthen, and fasten them, and so braced and inwardly knit by his uniting grace, we shall be powerful for good, but not otherwise. To fear God is both the beginning, the growth, and the maturity of wisdom, therefore should we be undividedly given up to it, heart, and soul.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Teach me thy way - Instruct me in the steps I should take; for without thy teaching I must go astray. Unite my heart - יחד לבבי yached lebabi, join all the purposes, resolutions, and affections of my heart together, to fear and to glorify thy name. This is a most important prayer. A divided heart is a great curse; scattered affections are a miserable plague. When the heart is not at unity with itself, the work of religion cannot go on. Indecision of mind and division of affections mar any work. The heart must be one, that the work may be one. If this be wanting, all is wrong. This is a prayer which becomes the mouth of every Christian.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Teach me thy way, O Lord - That is, in the present emergency. Show me what thou wouldst have me to do that I may obtain thy favor, and thy gracious help. I will walk in thy truth - I will live and act in accordance with what thou dost declare to be true. Whatever that may be, I will pursue it, having no will of my own. Unite my heart to fear thy name - That is, to worship, obey, and honor thee. (a) The end which he desired to secure was that he might truly fear God, or properly reverence and honor him; (b) the means which he saw to be necessary for this was that his “heart” might be “united” in this one great object; that is, that his heart might be single in its views and purposes; that there might be no distracting purposes; that one great aim might be always before him. The word rendered “unite” - יחד yāchad - occurs as a verb only in three places. In Gen 49:6, it is rendered united: “Unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united.” In Isa 14:20, it is translated joined: “Thou shalt not be joined with them.” The adverb - יחד yachad, occurs often, and is rendered together, Gen 13:6; Gen 22:6, Gen 22:8,Gen 22:19; Gen 36:7; et saepe. The idea is that of union, or conjunction; of being together; of constituting one; and this is accomplished in the heart when there is one great ruling object before the mind which nothing is allowed to interfere with. It may be added, that there is no more appropriate prayer which a man can offer than that his heart may have such a unity of purpose, and that nothing may be allowed to interfere with that one supreme purpose.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
and perform wonders, You, O God, alone Before the angels were created, heaven and earth were created. Therefore, all the nations will glorify Your name.
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. 5 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֘וֹרֵ֤נִי | horeni | teach me | H3384 → | 80 times |
| יְהוָ֨ה׀ | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| דַּרְכֶּ֗ךָ | darkekha | way your | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אֲהַלֵּ֥ךְ | ʾahalekh | I will walk | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| בַּאֲמִתֶּ֑ךָ | baamitekha | in truth your | H571 → | 127 times |
| יַחֵ֥ד | yached | unite | H3161 → | |
| לְ֝בָבִ֗י | levavi | heart my | H3824 → | 252 times |
| לְיִרְאָ֥ה | leyirah | to fear | H3372 → | 315 times |
| שְׁמֶֽךָ׃ | shemekha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
ה֘וֹרֵ֤נִיteach me
horeniH3384 →80 times
יְהוָ֨ה׀O Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
דַּרְכֶּ֗ךָway your
darkekhaH1870 →707 times
אֲהַלֵּ֥ךְI will walk
ʾahalekhH1980 →1546 times
בַּאֲמִתֶּ֑ךָin truth your
baamitekhaH571 →127 times
יַחֵ֥דunite
yachedH3161 →
לְ֝בָבִ֗יheart my
levaviH3824 →252 times
לְיִרְאָ֥הto fear
leyirahH3372 →315 times
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃name your
shemekhaH8034 →864 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
Psalms 5:8Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me.
it leads to
- Psalms 27:11
Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
- Psalms 25:4–5
Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
- Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- Psalms 119:10
With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.
- Psalms 143:8–10
Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.
- Psalms 27:11
Through
Psalms 119:33Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I will keep them to the end.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:26–27
I recounted my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your statutes.
- 1 John 2:27
And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all…
- Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- Psalms 119:26–27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
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 86; Bonaventure, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 1; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.