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Good News Translation

Psalms 18:25

O Lord , you are faithful to those who are faithful to you; completely good to those who are perfect.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   God Continued...;   Mercy;   The Topic Concordance - Frowardness;   Mercy;   Purity;   Uprightness;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Fire;   Psalms, the Book of;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Deliver;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - David;   Josiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Apocalyptic Literature;   David;   English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Jonah;   Perfection;   Psalms;   Salvation, Saviour;   Sin;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - David;   Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Forgiveness;  

Devotionals:

- My Utmost for His Highest - Devotion for April 26;  

Parallel Translations

Geneva Bible (1587)
With the godly thou wilt shewe thy selfe godly: with the vpright man thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright.
Christian Standard Bible®
With the faithfulyou prove yourself faithful,with the blamelessyou prove yourself blameless,
Hebrew Names Version
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.
Easy-to-Read Version
Lord, you are faithful to those who are faithful. You are good to those who are good.
English Standard Version
With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
Amplified Bible
With the kind (merciful, faithful, loyal) You show Yourself kind, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless,
American Standard Version
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;
Contemporary English Version
You are always loyal to your loyal people, and you are faithful to the faithful.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Hence Adonai repaid me for my uprightness, according to the purity of my hands in his view.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.
King James Version (1611)
With the mercifull thou wilt shew thy selfe mercifull, with an vpright man thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
With the holy thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent.
English Revised Version
With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with the perfect man thou wilt shew thyself perfect;
Berean Standard Bible
To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
Lexham English Bible
To the loyal you show yourself loyal. To the blameless you show yourself blameless.
Literal Translation
With the merciful You reveal Yourself as merciful; with an upright man You reveal Yourself as upright;
New Century Version
Lord , you are loyal to those who are loyal, and you are good to those who are good.
New English Translation
You prove to be loyal to one who is faithful; you prove to be trustworthy to one who is innocent.
New King James Version
With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
New Living Translation
To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.
New Life Bible
To the faithful, You show Yourself faithful. To those without blame, You show Yourself without blame.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
With the loving, thou didst show thyself loving, - With the blameless man, thou didst show thyself blameless;
Douay-Rheims Bible
(17-26) With the holy thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent:
George Lamsa Translation
With the pure thou shalt be pure; with an upright man thou shalt be upright.
New American Standard Bible
With the faithful You show Yourself faithful; With the blameless You prove Yourself blameless;
King James Version
With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
With the holy thou wylt be holy: with a perfect man thou wylt be perfect.
New Revised Standard
With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
Darby Translation
With the gracious thou dost shew thyself gracious; with the upright man thou dost shew thyself upright;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Lord schal yelde to me bi my riytfulnesse; and bi the clennesse of myn hondis in the siyt of hise iyen.
Young's Literal Translation
With the kind Thou showest Thyself kind, With a perfect man showest Thyself perfect.
World English Bible
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.
Revised Standard Version
With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal; with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless;
Update Bible Version
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With the perfect [noble] man you will show yourself perfect;
Webster's Bible Translation
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright;
Bible in Basic English
On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
With the holy thou shalt be holy, & wt ye innocet thou shalt be innocet.
THE MESSAGE
The good people taste your goodness, The whole people taste your health, The true people taste your truth, The bad ones can't figure you out. You take the side of the down-and-out, But the stuck-up you take down a peg.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
Legacy Standard Bible
With the kind You show Yourself kind;With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

Contextual Overview

20 The Lord rewards me because I do what is right; he blesses me because I am innocent. 21 I have obeyed the law of the Lord ; I have not turned away from my God. 22 I have observed all his laws; I have not disobeyed his commands. 23 He knows that I am faultless, that I have kept myself from doing wrong. 24 And so he rewards me because I do what is right, because he knows that I am innocent. 25 O Lord , you are faithful to those who are faithful to you; completely good to those who are perfect. 26 You are pure to those who are pure, but hostile to those who are wicked. 27 You save those who are humble, but you humble those who are proud. 28 O Lord , you give me light; you dispel my darkness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

With the: Psalms 41:1-4, Psalms 112:4-6, Nehemiah 9:17, Isaiah 57:1, Isaiah 57:2, Isaiah 58:7, Isaiah 58:8, Matthew 18:33-35, Luke 6:35-38

thou wilt: Isaiah 26:7, Ezekiel 18:25-30, Romans 9:14

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 26:24 - as thy life 1 Kings 20:30 - the rest 2 Chronicles 19:11 - the Lord Psalms 25:10 - the paths Psalms 36:10 - and thy Proverbs 11:20 - of Matthew 5:7 - are Matthew 7:2 - General Luke 6:38 - with 2 Timothy 1:16 - Lord

Cross-References

Genesis 18:1
The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day,
Genesis 18:2
he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them. Bowing down with his face touching the ground,
Genesis 18:5
I will also bring a bit of food; it will give you strength to continue your journey. You have honored me by coming to my home, so let me serve you." They replied, "Thank you; we accept."
Genesis 18:6
Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick, take a sack of your best flour, and bake some bread."
Genesis 18:7
Then he ran to the herd and picked out a calf that was tender and fat, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to get it ready.
Genesis 18:10
One of them said, "Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening.
Genesis 18:11
Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah had stopped having her monthly periods.
Genesis 18:12
So Sarah laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am old and worn out, can I still enjoy sex? And besides, my husband is old too."
Genesis 18:13
Then the Lord asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really have a child when I am so old?'
Genesis 18:17
And the Lord said to himself, "I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful,.... The merciful man is the good, gracious, holy, and godly man, as the word z here used signifies, and is sometimes rendered; one that has received grace and mercy from the Lord, and has principles of grace and goodness wrought in him, and is kind and merciful to others, both to their souls and bodies; and to such men God shows himself merciful: not that they are first merciful to others, and then he is so to them, for it is just the reverse; nor is their mercifulness the cause or condition of his, for he has mercy on whom he will have mercy; but to such he shows fresh mercy, and bestows more grace upon them; they find grace and mercy with him now, and will do hereafter; see Matthew 5:7. This may be applied to Christ, all whose ways are mercy and truth; he saw the estate his people would come into; he pitied their case, and became their surety in eternity; he betrothed them to himself in loving kindness and tender mercies; and undertook to feed the flock of slaughter, even the poor of the flock; having, through his merciful lovingkindness, assumed human nature, he went about doing good to the souls and bodies of men; he healed the diseased and fed the hungry, and had compassion on the ignorant, and them that were out of the way; and, as a merciful high priest, he bore the sins and sorrows of his people; and in his love and pity redeemed them, and continues to sympathize with them in all their afflictions and temptations; and though no mercy was shown him while he was suffering for them, for God spared him not, but awoke the sword of justice against him, and used him with the utmost rigour and severity; yet satisfaction being made, he did not leave him in the grave, nor suffer his holy, good, and merciful One to see corruption; but raised him from the dead, prevented him with the blessings of his goodness, and set upon his head a crown of honour and glory;

with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; an upright man, as the word a used signifies, is a perfect man, not absolutely, but comparatively; not in himself, but in Christ; perfect with a perfection of parts, but not of degrees; he is one that is upright in heart, sincere and without hypocrisy; an Israelite indeed, whose faith, hope, and love, are undisguised; he is a man of integrity, a faithful man, faithful to God, his cause and interest, his word and ordinances, and is faithful with the saints; he walks, uprightly according to the rule of God's word, and by faith in Christ; and to such upright men God shows himself upright, or faithful, by keeping his covenant with them, fulfilling his promises to them, and not suffering one good thing to fail he has given them reason to expect from him. This may also be interpreted of Christ, who is in the highest and fullest sense perfect, upright, and sincere, and faithful to him that appointed him; and as he has been faithful in all his covenant engagements with his Father, so his Father has been faithful to him in making good all he promised him; both with respect to his own glory, and the happiness of his people; see Isaiah 53:10.

z חסיד "benigno", Vatablus, Junius Tremellius "bono", Gejerus, some in Vatablus; "qui bonitati studet", Tigurine version; "pio", Munster, Cocceius, Michaelis; "gracious saint", Ainsworth. a תמים "perfecto", Pagninus, Montanus; so Ainsworth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With the merciful - From the particular statement respecting the divine dealings with himself the psalmist now passes to a general statement (suggested by what God had done for him) in regard to the general principles of the divine administration. That general statement is, that God deals with men according to their character; or, that he will adapt his providential dealings to the conduct of men. They will find him to be such toward them as they have shown themselves to be toward him. The word merciful refers to one who is disposed to show kindness or compassion to those who are guilty, or to those who injure or wrong us.

Thou wilt show thyself merciful - Thou wilt evince toward him the same character which he shows to others. It is in accordance with this that the Saviour teaches us to pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” Matthew 6:12. And in accordance also with this he said, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses,” Matthew 6:14-15.

With an upright man - literally, a perfect man. See Job 1:1, where the same word is used in the original, and rendered perfect. The idea is that of a man who is consistent, or whose character is complete in all its parts. See the note at Job 1:1.

Thou wilt show thyself upright - Thou wilt deal with him according to his character. As he is faithful and just, so will he find that he has to do with a God who is faithful and just.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 18:25. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful — Thou wilt deal with men as they deal with each other. This is the general tenor of God's providential conduct towards mankind; well expressed by Mr. Pope in his universal prayer: -

"Teach me to feel another's wo;

To hide the fault I see:

The mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me."


It is in reference to this that our Lord teaches us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." If we act feelingly and mercifully towards our fellow creatures, God will act tenderly and compassionately towards us. The merciful, the upright, and the pure, will ever have the God of mercy, uprightness, and purity, to defend and support them.


 
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