traversed, i.e., practised or carried out. In this course of right He leads the ענוים, and teaches them the way that is pleasing to Himself. ענוים is the one word for the gentle, mansueti, and the humble, modesti. Jerome uses these words alternately in Psa 25:9 and Psa 25:9; but the poet designedly repeats the one word - the cardinal virtue of ענוה - here with the preponderating notion of lowliness. Upon the self-righteous and self-sufficient He would be obliged to force Himself even against their will. He wants disciples eager to learn; and how richly He rewards those who guard what they have learnt!
Verse 10
The paths intended, are those which He takes with men in accordance with His revealed will and counsel. These paths are חסד loving-kindness, mercy, or grace, for the salvation of men is their goal, and אמת truth, for they give proof at every step of the certainty of His promises. But only they who keep His covenant and His testimonies faithfully and obediently shall share in this mercy and truth. To the psalmist the name of Jahve, which unfolds itself in mercy and truth, is precious. Upon it he bases the prayer that follows.
Verse 11
The perf. consec. is attached to the יהי, which is, according to the sense, implied in למען שׁמך, just as in other instances it follows adverbial members of a clause, placed first for the sake of emphasis, when those members have reference to the future, Ges. §126, rem. 1. Separate and manifold sins (Psa 25:7) are all comprehended in עון, which is in other instances also the collective word for the corruption and the guilt of sin. כּי gives the ground of the need and urgency of the petition. A great and multiform load of sin lies upon him, but the name of God, i.e., His nature that has become manifest in His mercy and truth, permits him to ask and to hope for forgiveness, not for the sake of anything whatever that he has done, but just for the sake of this name (Jer 14:7; Isa 43:25). How happy therefore is he who fears God, in this matter!
Verse 12
The question: quisnam est vir, which resembles Psa 34:13; Psa 107:43; Isa 50:10, is only propounded in order to draw attention to the person who bears the character described, and then to state what such an one has to expect.
