Psalm 25 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 25:14, 25:21
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 25
Teach me Your paths
Verse 25:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:1] Of David.
To You, YHWH, I lift my soul.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:1] A psalm of David.
To You, Lord, I lifted my soul, my God.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek explicitly names a psalm and places my God at this verse’s end; Hebrew places my God at the opening of the next verse.
Verse 25:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:2] My God, in You I trust;
do not let me be ashamed;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:2] In You I have trusted; may I not be put to shame,
and let my enemies not laugh at me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s divine address belongs here, unlike Greek’s preceding verse. Enemy exultation differs from explicit mocking laughter.
Verse 25:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:3] Indeed, none who wait for You will be ashamed;
let those who act treacherously without cause be ashamed.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:3] For indeed, all who wait for You will certainly not be put to shame;
let all who act lawlessly without cause be ashamed.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both contrast faithful waiting with baseless wrongdoing; Hebrew treachery differs slightly from Greek lawlessness.
Verse 25:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:4] Make Your ways known to me, YHWH;
teach me Your paths.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:4] Make Your ways known to me, Lord,
and teach me Your paths.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The request for knowledge of divine ways agrees.
Verse 25:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:5] Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are the God of my salvation;
for You I wait all day.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:5] Guide me into Your truth
and teach me, for You are God my Savior,
and I waited for You the whole day.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both join guidance in truth with prolonged waiting for the saving God.
Verse 25:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:6] Remember Your compassion, YHWH, and Your steadfast love,
for they are from of old.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:6] Remember Your compassions, Lord,
and Your mercies, for they are from eternity.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both appeal to God’s long-established compassionate mercy.
Verse 25:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:7] Do not remember the sins of my youth or my rebellions;
according to Your steadfast love, remember me Yourself,
for Your goodness’ sake, YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:7] Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of ignorance;
according to Your mercy, remember me Yourself,
for Your kindness’ sake, Lord.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew rebellions differ from Greek acts of ignorance. Both ask that divine mercy, rather than past wrongdoing, govern remembrance.
Verse 25:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:8] YHWH is good and upright;
therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:8] The Lord is kind and upright;
therefore He will give sinners instruction in the way.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both ground instruction of sinners in divine goodness; Greek nomotheteō more expressly evokes giving law.
Verse 25:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:9] He guides the humble in justice
and teaches the humble His way.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:9] He will guide the meek in judgment;
He will teach the meek His ways.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The humble or meek receive divine guidance; Hebrew has a singular way and Greek plural ways.
Verse 25:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:10] All YHWH’s paths are steadfast love and truth
for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:10] All the Lord’s ways are mercy and truth
for those who seek His covenant and His testimonies.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew describes keeping the covenant; Greek seeking it. Mercy and truth remain the character of all divine paths.
Verse 25:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:11] For Your name’s sake, YHWH,
pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:11] For Your name’s sake, Lord,
You will be gracious to my sin, for it is great.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both appeal for pardon of great wrongdoing for the divine name’s sake. Hebrew’s perfect form carries petitionary assurance here; Greek has an explicit future of propitiation or gracious pardon.
Verse 25:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:12] Who is the man who fears YHWH?
He will instruct him in the way he chooses.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:12] Who is the human being who fears the Lord?
He will give him instruction in a way he chose.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both promise instruction to the God-fearer. The chooser’s pronoun antecedent is not forced; God or the instructed person can be considered in the compressed syntax.
Verse 25:13 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:13] His soul will lodge in goodness,
and his seed will inherit the land.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:13] His soul will lodge among good things,
and his seed will inherit land.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Well-being and the descendants’ inheritance agree.
Verse 25:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:14] YHWH’s intimate counsel is for those who fear Him,
and His covenant, to make it known to them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:14] The Lord is the stronghold of those who fear Him,
and the Lord’s name belongs to those who fear Him,
and His covenant is to make things known to them.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew gives intimate counsel, sod; Greek gives a stronghold and an additional statement about the divine name. The covenant’s disclosure remains in both, with its infinitival construction left visible.
Verse 25:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:15] My eyes are always toward YHWH,
for He will bring my feet out of the net.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:15] My eyes are continually toward the Lord,
for He will pull my feet out of a trap.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both look to God for release of trapped feet.
Verse 25:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:16] Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am alone and afflicted.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:16] Look upon me and have mercy on me,
for I am alone and poor.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The lone, vulnerable speaker asks divine attention. Greek μονογενής is rendered alone in this appeal from isolation, without inventing family circumstances or identifying the speaker as an only child.
Verse 25:17 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:17] The distresses of my heart have grown wide;
bring me out of my constraints.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:17] The afflictions of my heart widened;
bring me out of my distresses.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both contrast expanding inward distress with a plea to escape constriction.
Verse 25:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:18] See my affliction and my trouble,
and bear away all my sins.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:18] See my humiliation and my toil,
and forgive all my sins.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The appeal joins attention to suffering with removal or forgiveness of every sin.
Verse 25:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:19] See my enemies, for they are many;
they hate me with violent hatred.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:19] See my enemies, for they multiplied
and hated me with unjust hatred.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew qualifies the hatred as violent; Greek as unjust. The multiplication or multitude of enemies agrees.
Verse 25:20 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:20] Guard my soul and deliver me;
do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:20] Guard my soul and rescue me;
may I not be put to shame, for I hoped in You.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both ask preservation and deliverance on the basis of reliance upon God.
Verse 25:21 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:21] May integrity and uprightness guard me,
for I wait for You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:21] Innocent and upright people clung to me,
for I waited for You, Lord.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew invokes moral qualities as guards; Greek describes people joining the speaker and explicitly adds Lord. Agency changes from protective integrity to human companionship.
Verse 25:22 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[25:22] Redeem Israel, God,
from all its distresses.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[24:22] Redeem Israel, God,
from all its afflictions.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The closing petition widens from the individual to all Israel.