Psalms 25:22

P ‘Redeem, O God, Israel, out all of his troubles.'

The Psalmists final plea is that God will redeem (deliver at a cost) Israel from all its troubles. He does not want to be thought of as just concerned about himself.

Many consider that this was added on when the Psalm was introduced into public worship. We should, however, note that the Psalmist has already had the true Israel in mind (Psalms 25:8; Psalms 25:12). Thus such a prayer is not inconsistent with the Psalm, and the use of ‘O God parallels the opening stanza. The prayer fits well with the concern of a king for his people, especially as he was the intercessory priest after the order of Melchizedek. Having prayed through about his own position he now prays for his people.

The use of ‘O God' is rare in this section of the Psalms, but it parallels Psalms 25:1 /2.