Psalm 51:3

3 For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time.

Psalm 51:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 51:3

For I acknowledge my transgressions
Before God and man. Acknowledgment of sin is what the Lord requires, and promises forgiveness upon, and therefore is used here as a plea for it; and moreover the psalmist had done so before, and had succeeded in this way, which must encourage him to take the same course again; see ( Psalms 32:5 ) ;

and my sin [is] ever before me;
staring him in the face; gnawing upon his conscience, and filling him with remorse and distress; so that his life was a burden to him: for though God had put away sin out of his own sight, so that he would not condemn him for it, and he should not die; notwithstanding as yet it was not caused to pass from David, or the guilt of it removed from his conscience.

Psalm 51:3 In-Context

1 For the leader. A psalm of David, when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva: God, in your grace, have mercy on me; in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.

2 Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil from your perspective; so that you are right in accusing me and justified in passing sentence.

5 True, I was born guilty, was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.