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Psalm 32 · a question people ask

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go" (32:8). Who is speaking: the LORD or the psalmist?

In the text

The verse doesn't name its speaker, and the psalm allows either. Just before it, the psalmist speaks to the LORD: "You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble" (32:7). Then comes a voice in the first person, as a teacher over the one addressed: "I will counsel you with my eye on you" (32:8). It could be the LORD answering the psalmist: another psalm says of the LORD, "he will instruct sinners in the way" (Psalm 25:8), and in Hebrew 32:8's teach and way are that verse's instruct and way (yarah and derekh). Or it could be the psalmist, turning to teach others what he has learned: he has already turned to others in 32:6 ("let everyone who is godly pray to you"), and another psalm has the psalmist say he will teach: "Then I will teach transgressors your ways" (Psalm 51:13). What the text does show is this: in Hebrew every you in 32:8 is one person, while "Don’t be like the horse" (32:9) speaks to more than one, and the psalm ends by speaking to many: "Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous!" (32:11). These notes don't choose between the readings.

The verses

“For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him. You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.”
Psalm 32:6-9 · World English Bible
“Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!”
Psalm 32:11 · World English Bible
“Good and upright is the LORD, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.”
Psalm 25:8 · World English Bible
“Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you.”
Psalm 51:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 32

Psalm 32: Whose sin is covered

In Hebrew, covered in "whose sin is covered" (32:1) and hide in "I didn’t hide my iniquity" (32:5) are one verb. The psalm calls blessed the one whose sin is covered, and tells of when the psalmist stopped covering it himself: "you forgave the iniquity of my sin" (32:5).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions