Psalms 51:7-9

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Psalms 51:7-9 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. Isaiah 4:4; Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1
• 2. S Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:4; S Numbers 19:6; Hebrews 9:19
• 3. Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22
• 4. Isaiah 35:10; Jeremiah 33:11; Joel 1:16
• 5. S Exodus 12:46
• 6. Jeremiah 16:17; Zechariah 4:10
• 7. S 2 Samuel 12:13