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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 25:1 - 25:1
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The Psalm begins, like Psa 16:1-11; Psa 23:1, with a monostich. Psa 25:2 is the ב strophe, אֱלֹהַי (unless one is disposed to read בך אלהי according to the position of the words in Psa 31:2), after the manner of the interjections in the tragedians, e.g., oo'moi, not being reckoned as belonging to the verse (J. D. Köhler). In need of help and full of longing for deliverance he raises his soul, drawn away from earthly desires, to Jahve (Psa 86:4; Psa 143:8), the God who alone can grant him that which shall truly satisfy his need. His ego, which has the soul within itself, directs his soul upwards to Him whom he calls אֱלֹהַי, because in believing confidence he clings to Him and is united with Him. The two אַל declare what Jahve is not to allow him to experience, just as in Psa 31:2, Psa 31:18. According to Psa 25:19, Psa 25:20; Psa 38:17, it is safer to construe לִי with יַעַלְצוּ (cf. Psa 71:10), as also in Psa 27:2; Psa 30:2, Mic 7:8, although it would be possible to construe it with אֹויְבַי (cf. Psa 144:2). In Psa 25:3 the confident expectation of the individual is generalised.