Psalm 32:1-7

1 By David. -- An Instruction. O the happiness of him whose transgression [is] forgiven, Whose sin is covered.

2 O the happiness of a man, To whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 When I have kept silence, become old have my bones, Through my roaring all the day.

4 When by day and by night Thy hand is heavy upon me, My moisture hath been changed Into the droughts of summer. Selah.

5 My sin I cause Thee to know, And mine iniquity I have not covered. I have said, `I confess concerning My transgressions to Jehovah,' And Thou -- Thou hast taken away, The iniquity of my sin. Selah.

6 For this doth every saintly one pray to Thee, As the time to find. Surely at an overflowing of many waters, Unto him they come not.

7 Thou [art] a hiding-place for me, From distress Thou dost keep me, [With] songs of deliverance dost compass me. Selah.

Psalm 32:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 32

\\<<[A Psalm], of David, Maschil>>\\. This is the first of the psalms that bears this title: some think it is the name of a musical instrument, on which this psalm was sung; others the first word of a song, to the tune of which it was sung, as Aben Ezra; some say it is so called, because it was explained by an interpreter, as Jarchi; and the Rabbins {k} say, that every psalm that is called "Maschil" was dictated by an interpreter: the Targum renders it "a good understanding"; and the word properly signifies "instruction", or "causing to understand" {l}; and it may be the apostle has some reference to this title in 1Co 14:15; It is an instructive psalm; a didascalic ode, as Junius renders it: it gives an account how the psalmist was instructed under a dispensation of Providence; and was brought to a sense of sin, and acknowledgment of it; and was favoured with a discovery of pardoning grace; and in it he takes upon him to instruct others, Ps 32:8,9, and does instruct in the doctrine of the pardon of sin by the grace of God. {k} Elias Levita in Tishbi, p. 271. {l} lykvm "erudiens", Musculus, Munster, Vatablus, Montanus; "informans", Gejerus; "an instructing psalm", Ainsworth.