Psalm 51:7-17

7 Purify me ¹with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be ²whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear ³joy and gladness, Let the ⁴bones which You have broken rejoice.

9 ⁵Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities.

10 ⁶Create in me a ⁷clean heart, O God, And renew a ⁸steadfast spirit within me.

11 ⁹Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your ¹⁰Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the ¹¹joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a ¹²willing spirit.

13 Then I will ¹³teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be ¹⁴converted to You.

14 Deliver me from ¹⁵bloodguiltiness, O God, ¹⁶the God of my salvation; Then my ¹⁷tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

15 O Lord, ¹⁸open my lips, That my mouth may ¹⁹declare Your praise.

16 For You ²⁰do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a ²¹broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Psalm 51:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. The occasion of this psalm was the sin of David with Bathsheba, signified by "going in to her"; an euphemism for "lying with her"; which sin was a very aggravated one, she being another man's wife, and the wife of a servant and soldier of his, who was at the same time exposing his life for his king and country's good; and David besides had many wives, and was also king of Israel, and should have set a better example to his subjects; and it was followed with other sins, as the murder of Uriah, and the death of several others; with scandal to religion, and with security and impenitence in him for a long time, until Nathan the prophet was sent to him of God, to awaken him to a sense of his sin; which he immediately acknowledged, and showed true repentance for it: upon which, either while Nathan was present, or after he was gone, he penned this psalm; that it might remain on record, as a testification of his repentance, and for the instruction of such as should fall into sin, how to behave, where to apply, and for their comfort. The history of all this may be seen in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the second book of Samuel.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:4; Numbers 19:18; Hebrews 9:19
• 2. Isaiah 1:18
• 3. Isaiah 35:10; Joel 1:16
• 4. Psalms 35:10
• 5. Jeremiah 16:17
• 6. Ezekiel 18:31; Ephesians 2:10
• 7. Psalms 24:4; Matthew 5:8; Acts 15:9
• 8. Psalms 78:37
• 9. 2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 24:20; Jeremiah 7:15
• 10. Isaiah 63:10, 11
• 11. Psalms 13:5
• 12. Psalms 110:3
• 13. Acts 9:21, 22
• 14. Psalms 22:27
• 15. 2 Samuel 12:9; Psalms 26:9
• 16. Psalms 25:5
• 17. Psalms 35:28; Psalms 71:15
• 18. Exodus 4:15
• 19. Psalms 9:14
• 20. 1 Samuel 15:22; Psalms 40:6
• 21. Psalms 34:18

Footnotes

• [a] Or "May You purify...that I may be clean"
• [b] Or "May You wash"
• [c] Or "May You make"
• [d] Lit "for"
• [e] Or "an upright"
• [f] Or "turn back"
• [g] Or "may You open"