Psalm 25:11
Read Psalm 25:11 Using Other Translations
What does Psalm 25:11 mean?
For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine
iniquity
Which to do is one of the promises and blessings of the covenant.
The psalmist may have reference to his sin with Bathsheba, as
Kimchi observes; since it was foretold to him, that, on account
of that sin, evil should arise to him out of his own house, (
2 Samuel
12:11 ) ; meaning that his son should rise up in rebellion
against him; which was now the case, and which, no doubt, brought
afresh this sin to his mind; and the guilt of it lay heavy upon
his conscience; and therefore he prays for an application of
pardoning grace and mercy; or he may have respect to original
sin, the sin of his nature, which so easily beset him; the
loathsome disease his loins were filled with; the law in his
members warring against the law of his mind; and which a view of
every actual sin led him to the consideration and acknowledgment
of, as did that now mentioned, ( Psalms 51:4 Psalms 51:5 ) ; or,
"iniquity" may be put for "iniquities", and the sense be, that he
desired a manifestation of the pardon of all his sins; for when
God forgives sin, he forgives all iniquities: and David here
prays for pardon in a way of mercy, and upon the foot of
satisfaction; for he prays that God would "mercifully pardon"
F1, as the word signifies; or,
according to his tender mercies, blot out his transgressions, and
cleanse him from his sins; or that he would be "propitious"
F2 to him; or forgive him in a
propitiatory way, or through the propitiation of Christ, whom God
had set forth in his purposes and promises to be the propitiation
for the remission of sins; and therefore he entreats this favour
"for [his] name's sake"; not for his own merits and good works,
but for the Lord's sake, for his mercy's sake, or for his Son's
sake; see ( Isaiah 43:25
) ; compared with ( Ephesians
5:32 ) . The argument or reason he urges is,
for it [is] great;
being committed against the great God, against great light and
knowledge, and attended with very aggravating circumstances; or
"much" F3, he being guilty of many sins; his
sins were great, both as to quality and quantity: this seems to
be rather a reason against than a reason for the pardon of sin;
it denotes the sense the psalmist had of his iniquity, and his
importunity for the pardon of it; just as a person, sensible of
the violence and malignity of his disease, entreats the physician
with the greater eagerness and importunity to do his utmost for
him; see ( Psalms 41:4 ) ; or the
words may be rendered, "though it [is] great" F4; so
Aben Ezra understands them;
``though it is so very heinous and provoking, yet since forgiveness is with thee, and thou hast promised it in covenant, and hast proclaimed thy name, a God gracious and merciful, pardon it;''unless the words are to be connected, as they are by some Jewish F5 interpreters, with the phrase "thy name's sake, for it [is] great"; that is, thy name is great, and that it may appear to be so, as it is proclaimed, forgive mine iniquity.
F1 (txlo) "mercifully pardon"; so Ainsworth.
F2 (ilash) Sept. "propitiaberis", V. L. "propitius esto", Musculus.
F3 (br) "multum", V. L. "multa", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.
F4 (yk) "quamvis", Gejerus, Schmidt,
F5 Vide Abendanae Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
