Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 25:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 25:7. Remember not the sins of my youth — Those which I have committed through inconsiderateness, and heat of passion.

According to thy mercy — As it is worthy of thy mercy to act according to the measure, the greatness, and general practice of thy mercy; so give me an abundant pardon, a plentiful salvation.

For thy goodness' sake — Goodness is the nature of God; mercy flows from that goodness.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 25:0 Forgiveness and guidance

In the distressing circumstances surrounding this psalm, David is concerned that his enemies should not triumph over him. This is not only to save him from personal shame, but also to save his faith from being shaken. The rebels, not the faithful, are the ones who should be defeated (1-3). David wants to know more of God and his ways, so that in all the affairs of life he will do what is right (4-5). If past sins are the cause of his present troubles, he prays that God, in his mercy and love, will forgive them (6-7).
As he thinks of the goodness of God towards humble and repentant sinners, David is encouraged to believe that God will forgive him. More than that, God will lead him into a life of truer understanding, obedience and faithfulness (8-11). The more people revere and obey God, the more they find that God is their friend. They know more of God and are more assured in their salvation (12-14).
In his present danger David is lonely and fearful. But he keeps his eye fixed on God, trusting in him alone for help (15-17). He asks again for forgiveness of his sins and deliverance from his enemies (18-21). He asks also that God will save the nation from its troubles. If he can be the saviour of the individual, surely he can be the saviour of the nation (22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Unto thee, O Jehovah, do I lift up my soul. O my God, in thee have I trusted, Let me not be put to shame; Let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, none that wait for thee shall be put to shame: They shall be put to shame who deal treacherously without cause. Show me thy ways, O Jehovah; Teach me thy paths. Guide me in thy truth, and teach me; For thou art the God of my salvation; For thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Jehovah, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; For they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: According to thy lovingkindness remember thou me, For thy goodness sake, O Jehovah.”

“Let me not be put to shame” (Psalms 25:2). The distress of the petitioner is evident throughout the psalm. He is acutely conscious of his enemies and the treachery of those whom he has trusted. He is oppressed by the consciousness that he does not really know what to do under the distressing circumstances, hence the cry:

“Show me... guide me” (Psalms 25:4-5). “Man is so wanting in spiritual understanding, so morally blind and ignorant, that, unless enlightened from on high, he cannot discern `the way of godliness.’ He does not know at any given moment what God would have him do.”The Pulpit Commentary, p. 181.

The distress and uncertainty send the psalmist to God for sure and certain answers. He is acutely conscious of sins in his life reaching all the way back to his youth; and there is an instinctive reaction to this in that all suffering, disease, sorrows and distresses are associated in the human mind with sins. True, they are not always directly related, as in the case of the man born blind (John 9); but there is a sub-conscious reaction of the human race which does not fail to relate sin and suffering as cause and effect, whether true or not.

This is the background that prompts the psalmist to pray for the forgiveness of the sins of his youth.

“Remember thy mercies… lovingkindness… thy goodness” (Psalms 25:6-7). It is significant that David here based his plea that God “Remember not” the sins of his youth, not upon the basis of any merit of his own, but solely upon the goodness, kindness and mercy of God.

“Remember... remember not” (Psalms 25:6-7). Only God can “forget” sins, an achievement of which men are incapable. The promise that God would both forgive and forget sins was revealed by the prophet Jeremiah as the outstanding characteristic of the New Covenant. “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

All of the forgiveness available under the Old Covenant fell short of the absolute sense of it in the New Testament, because the Atonement of Christ was yet in the future. In the practical sense, however, a type of forgiveness was granted to Old Testament saints in the action of God whose “passing over of the sins done aforetime” (Romans 3:25) may be viewed as a practical equivalent of New Testament forgiveness “in Christ.”

“Sins of my youth, nor my transgressions” (Psalms 25:7). There are two classes of sins here, concerning which the psalmist pleaded that God would not remember them. (1) These were the “sins of his youth,” and (2) his “transgressions.” Perhaps he had found, as so many others have discovered, that “the sins of youth” are never terminated automatically with the arrival of maturity. On the other hand, sins have a way of fastening themselves upon the sinner and increasing as the years go by. An apostle warned us that “wickedness shall wax worse and worse.”

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Remember not the sins of my youth - In strong contrast with God, the psalmist brings forward his own conduct and life. He could ask of God Psalms 25:6 to remember His own acts - what “He himself” had done; but could not ask him to remember His conduct - His past life. He could only pray that this might be forgotten. He did not wish it to come into remembrance before God; he could not ask that God would deal with him according to that. He prays, therefore, that he might not be visited as he advanced in life with the fruits of his conduct in early years, but that all the offences of that period of his life might be forgiven and forgotten. Who is there that cannot with deep feeling join in this prayer? Who is there that has reached the period of middle or advanced life, who would be willing to have the follies of his youth, the plans, and thoughts, and wishes of his early years brought again to remembrance? Who would be willing to have recalled to his own mind, or made known to his friends, to society around him, or to assembled worlds, the thoughts, the purposes, the wishes, the “imaginings” of his youthful days? Who would dare to pray that he might be treated in advancing years as he treated God in his own early life? Nay, who would venture to pray that God would treat him in the day of judgment as he had treated the friends of his childhood, even the father who begat him, or the mother who bore him? Our hope in regard to the favor of God is that he will “not” summon up the thoughts and the purposes of our early years; that he will “not” treat us as if he remembered them; but that he will treat us as if they were forgotten.

Nor my transgressions - The sins of my early years.

According to thy mercy remember thou me - Deal with me, not according to strict justice, but according to mercy. Deal with me indeed according to thy nature and character; but let the attribute of mercy be that which will be the guide rather than the attribute of justice.

For thy goodness’ sake - In order that thy goodness or benevolence may be displayed and honored - not primarily and mainly that I may be saved, but that thy character may be seen to be good and merciful.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.Remember not the sins of my youth. As our sins are like a wall between us and God, which prevents him from hearing our prayers, or stretching forth his hand to help us, David now removes this obstruction. It is indeed true, in general, that men pray in a wrong way, and in vain, unless they begin by seeking the forgiveness of their sins. There is no hope of obtaining any favor from God unless he is reconciled to us. How shall he love us unless he first freely reconcile us to himself? The right and proper order of prayer therefore is, as I have said, to ask, at the very outset, that God would pardon our sins. David here acknowledges, in explicit terms, that he cannot in any other way become a partaker of the grace of God than by having his sins blotted out. In order, therefore, that God may be mindful of his mercy towards us, it is necessary that he forget our sins, the very sight of which turns away his favor from us. In the meantime, the Psalmist confirms by this more clearly what I have already said, that although the wicked acted towards him with cruelty, and persecuted him unjustly, yet he ascribed to his own sins all the misery which he endured. For why should he ask the forgiveness of his sins, by having recourse to the mercy of God, but because he acknowledged, that by the cruel treatment he received from his enemies, he only suffered the punishment which he justly merited? He has, therefore, acted wisely in turning his thoughts to the first cause of his misery, that he may find out the true remedy; and thus he teaches us by his example, that when any outward affliction presses upon us, we must entreat God not only to deliver us from it, but also to blot out our sins, by which we have provoked his displeasure, and subjected ourselves to his chastening rod. If we act otherwise, we shall follow the example of unskilful physicians, who, overlooking the cause of the disease, only seek to alleviate the pain, and apply merely adventitious remedies for the cure. Moreover, David makes confession not only of some slight offenses, as hypocrites are wont to do, who, by confessing their guilt in a general and perfunctory manner, either seek some subterfuge, or else extenuate the enormity of their sin; but he traces back his sins even to his very childhood, and considers in how many ways he had provoked the wrath of God against him. When he makes mention of the sins which he had committed in his youth, he does not mean by this that he had no remembrance of any of the sins which he had committed in his later years; but it is rather to show that he considered himself worthy of so much the greater condemnation. ⁽⁵⁵⁶⁾ In the first place, considering that he had not begun only of late to commit sin, but that he had for a long time heaped up sin upon sin, he bows himself, if we may so speak, under the accumulated load; and, in the second place, he intimates, that if God should deal with him according to the rigour of law, not only the sins of yesterday, or of a few days, would come into judgment against him, but all the instances in which he had offended, even from his infancy, might now with justice be laid to his charge. As often, therefore, as God terrifies us by his judgments and the tokens of his wrath, let us call to our remembrance, not only the sins which we have lately committed, but also all the transgressions of our past life, proving to us the ground of renewed shame and renewed lamentation. Besides, in order to express more fully that he supplicates a free pardon, he pleads before God only on the ground of his mere good pleasure; and therefore he says, According to thy compassion do thou remember me When God casts our sins into oblivion, this leads him to behold us with fatherly regard. David can discover no other cause by which to account for this paternal regard of God, but that he is good, and hence it follows that there is nothing to induce God to receive us into his favor but his own good pleasure. When God is said to remember us according to his mercy, we are tacitly given to understand that there are two ways of remembering which are entirely opposite; the one when he visits sinners in his wrath, and the other when he again manifests his favor to those of whom he seemed for a time to take no account.

(556) “Redevable de tant plus grande condemnation.” — Fr.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 25:1-22

Psalms 25:1-22 :

Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all day. Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD ( Psalms 25:1-7 ).

Now David is changing his tune. Earlier he was saying, "Lord, remember my righteousness, and do good to me for my righteousness' sake." And now as he is growing a little older, and he is looking back in retrospect, he is saying, "Lord, don't remember the sins of my youth. According to Your mercy remember me. When You think about me, Lord, let it be covered with Your mercy. And for Your goodness' sake, O Lord."

Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. The paths of the LORD are mercy and truth [all of the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth] unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies ( Psalms 25:8-10 ).

So all of God's ways towards you are mercy and truth if you keep His covenant and walk in His testimonies.

For thy name's sake ( Psalms 25:11 ),

Remember we were dealing with this this morning. "For thy name's sake." He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. Now David is saying,

For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. What is man that he fears the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with them that reverence him; and he will show them his covenant ( Psalms 25:11-14 ).

God's secret. Oh, the glorious mysteries. What is the secret of the Lord? Paul tells us the secret of the Lord. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is God's secret. It is a mystery hid from the beginning of the world now revealed to the church, Christ in you, the hope of glory. He reveals it to those who keep His covenant.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Requests for guidance and pardon 25:1-7

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 25

David appealed to God for wisdom and forgiveness because of His goodness to Israel. This is one of the acrostic psalms in which each verse in the Hebrew Bible begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet, here with an occasional irregularity. Two verses begin with the letter resh, the letters waw and qof are absent, and the last verse begins with the letter pe, which is out of normal alphabetical order. The psalm is an individual lament that transforms at the end into a communal lament (cf. Psalms 34). It pictures life as a difficult journey that we cannot make successfully by ourselves. [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 140.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The psalmist sensed his need for divine guidance and instruction. He wanted to walk in the Lord’s righteous ways but needed help in discerning them. He also requested forgiveness for the sins of his youth, asking God to remember His compassion and loyal love, but not to remember his transgressions.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Remember not the sins of my youth,.... Original sin, in which he was born, and the breakings forth of corrupt nature in infancy, he brought into the world with him, together with all the youthful lusts and vanities to which that age is addicted; and sometimes the sins of youth are in some persons remembered by God, and punished in old age; and if not, they are brought to remembrance through the dispensations of Providence: and the people of God are chastised for them then, and are ready to fear it is in a way of wrath; see Job 13:26; which the psalmist here deprecates; for this is not said in order to extenuate his sins, they being but youthful follies, imprudencies, and inadvertencies, sins committed through ignorance, when he had not the knowledge of things he now had; nor as if he had lived so holy a life, that there were no sins of his to be taken notice of but what he had committed in his younger days; but rather this is to be considered as a confession of his having sinned from his youth upwards unto that time, as in Jeremiah 3:25; and therefore entreat, that God would not remember his sins, so as to correct him for them in wrath and hot displeasure; neither the sins he had formerly been guilty of, nor those of a later date; which he next mentions;

nor my transgressions; his more notorious and glaring ones; such as murder and adultery, in the case of Uriah and Bathsheba, and which now stared him in the face; and on account of these, and as a chastening for them, this unnatural rebellion of his son's, which was now raised against him, was suffered to befall him, as had been foretold to him,

2 Samuel 12:11;

according to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord; he pleads no merit nor goodness of his own, but casts himself upon the mercy, grace, and goodness of God; in which he was certainly right; and on that account prayed and hoped for deliverance from his present troubles, and for discoveries of the pardon of his sins unto him, which is what he means by remembering him.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A psalm of David.

      1 Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.   2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.   3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.   4 show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.   5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.   6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.   7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.

      Here we have David's professions of desire towards God and dependence on him. He often begins his psalms with such professions, not to move God, but to move himself, and to engage himself to answer those professions.

      I. He professes his desire towards God: Unto thee, O Lord! do I lift up my soul,Psalms 25:1; Psalms 25:1. In the foregoing psalm (Psalms 24:4; Psalms 24:4) it was made the character of a good man that he has not lifted up his soul to vanity; and a call was given to the everlasting gates to lift up their heads for the King of glory to come in,Psalms 25:1; Psalms 25:1. To this character, to this call, David here answers, "Lord, I lift up my soul, not to vanity, but to thee." Note, In worshipping God we must lift up our souls to him. Prayer is the ascent of the soul to God; God must be eyed and the soul employed. Sursum corda--Up with you hearts, was anciently used as a call to devotion. With a holy contempt of the world and the things of it, by a fixed thought and active faith, we must set God before us, and let out our desires towards him as the fountain of our happiness.

      II. He professes his dependence upon God and begs for the benefit and comfort of that dependence (Psalms 25:2; Psalms 25:2): O my God! I trust in thee. His conscience witnessed for him that he had no confidence in himself nor in any creature, and that he had no diffidence of God or of his power or promise. He pleases himself with this profession of faith in God. Having put his trust in God, he is easy, is well satisfied, and quiet from the fear of evil; and he pleads it with God whose honour it is to help those that honour him by trusting in him. What men put a confidence in is either their joy or their shame, according as it proves. Now David here, under the direction of faith, prays earnestly, 1. That shame might not be his lot: "Let me not be ashamed of my confidence in thee; let me not be shaken from it by any prevailing fears, and let me not be, in the issue, disappointed of what I depend upon thee for; but, Lord, keep what I have committed unto thee." Note, If we make our confidence in God our stay, it shall not be our shame; and, if we triumph in him, our enemies shall not triumph over us, as they would if we should now sink under our fears, or should, in the issue, come short of our hopes. 2. That it might not be the lot of any that trusted in God. All the saints have obtained a like precious faith; and therefore, doubtless, it will be alike successful in the issue. Thus the communion of saints is kept up, even by their praying one for another. True saints will make supplication for all saints. It is certain that none who, by a believing attendance, wait on God, and, by a believing hope, wait for him, shall be made ashamed of it. 3. That it might be the lot of the transgressors; Let those be ashamed that transgress without cause, or vainly, as the word is. (1.) Upon no provocation. They revolt from God and their duty, from David and his government (so some), without any occasion given them, not being able to pretend any iniquity they have found in God, or that in any thing he has wearied them. The weaker the temptation is by which men are drawn to sin the stronger the corruption is by which they are driven by it. Those are the worst transgressors that sin for sinning-sake. (2.) To no purpose. They know their attempts against God are fruitless; they imagine a vain thing, and therefore they will soon be ashamed of it.

      III. He begs direction from God in the way of his duty, Psalms 25:4; Psalms 25:5. Once and again he here prays to God to teach him. He was a knowing man himself, but the most intelligent, the most observant, both need and desire to be taught of God; from him we must be ever learning. Observe,

      1. What he desired to learn: "Teach me, not fine words or fine notions, but thy ways, thy paths, thy truth, the ways in which thou walkest towards men, which are all mercy and truth (Psalms 25:10; Psalms 25:10), and the ways in which thou wouldst have me to walk towards thee." Those are best taught who understand their duty, and know the good things they should do,Ecclesiastes 2:3. God's paths and his truth are the same; divine laws are all founded upon divine truths. The way of God's precepts is the way of truth, Psalms 119:30. Christ is both the way and the truth, and therefore we must learn Christ.

      2. What he desired of God, in order to this. (1.) That he would enlighten his understanding concerning his duty: "Show me thy way, and so teach me." In doubtful cases we should pray earnestly that God would make it plain to us what he would have us to do. (2.) That he would incline his will to do it, and strengthen him in it: "Lead me, and so teach me." Not only as we lead one that is dimsighted, to keep him from missing his way, but as we lead one that is sick, and feeble, and faint, to help him forward in the way and to keep him from fainting and falling. We go no further in the way to heaven than God is pleased to lead us and to hold us up.

      3. What he pleads, (1.) His great expectation from God: Thou art the God of my salvation. Note, Those that choose salvation of God as their end, and make him the God of their salvation, may come boldly to him for direction in the way that leads to that end. If God save us, he will teach us and lead us. He that gives salvation will give instruction. (2.) His constant attendance on God: On thee do I wait all the day. Whence should a servant expect direction what to do but from his own master, on whom he waits all the day? If we sincerely desire to know our duty, with a resolution to do it, we need not question but that God will direct us in it.

      IV. He appeals to God's infinite mercy, and casts himself upon that, not pretending to any merit of his own (Psalms 25:6; Psalms 25:6): "Remember, O Lord! thy tender mercies, and, for the sake of those mercies, lead me, and teach me; for they have been ever of old." 1. "Thou always wast a merciful God; it is thy name, it is thy nature and property, to show mercy." 2. "Thy counsels and designs of mercy were from everlasting; the vessels of mercy were, before all worlds, ordained to glory." 3. "The instances of thy mercy to the church in general, and to me in particular, were early and ancient, and constant hitherto; they began of old, and never ceased. Thou hast taught me from my youth up, teach me now."

      V. He is in a special manner earnest for the pardon of his sins (Psalms 25:7; Psalms 25:7): "O remember not the sins of my youth. Lord, remember thy mercies (Psalms 25:6; Psalms 25:6), which speak for me, and not my sins, which speak against me." Here is, 1. An implicit confession of sin; he specifies particularly the sins of his youth. Note, Our youthful faults and follies should be matter of our repentance and humiliation long after, because time does not wear out the guilt of sin. Old people should mourn for the sinful mirth and be in pain for the sinful pleasures of their youth. He aggravates his sins, calling them his transgressions; and the more holy, just, and good the law is, which sin is the transgression of, the more exceedingly sinful it ought to appear to us. 2. An express petition for mercy, (1.) That he might be acquitted from guilt: "Remember not the sins of my youth; that is, remember them not against me, lay them not to my charge, enter not into judgment with me for them." When God pardons sin he is said to remember it no more, which denotes a plenary remission; he forgives and forgets. (2.) That he might be accepted in God's sight: "Remember thou me; think on me for good, and come in seasonably for my succour." We need desire no more to make us happy than for God to remember us with favour. His plea is, "according to thy mercy, and for thy goodness-sake." Note, It is God's goodness and not ours, his mercy and not our own merit, that must be our plea for the pardon of sin and all the good we stand in need of. This plea we must always rely upon, as those that are sensible of our poverty and unworthiness and as those that are satisfied of the riches of God's mercy and grace.