Psalms 51
51
Pardon and Purity
For the Pure and Shining One
A prayer of confession when the prophet Nathan exposed King David’s adultery with Bathsheba # 51 This psalm is based on the incident that is recorded in 2 Sam. 12–13. This is a psalm of confession that has been sung for ages. Imagine composing a song about your failure and making it public for all time. David was not so much concerned about what the people thought but about what God thought. He wanted to be clean before God.
David’s Confession
1-2God, give me mercy from your fountain of forgiveness!
I know your abundant love is enough to wash away my guilt.
Because your compassion is so great,
take away this shameful guilt of sin.
Forgive the full extent of my rebellious ways,
and erase this deep stain on my conscience. # 51:1–2 Or “wash me.” David used the Hebrew word kabas, which was used for washing clothes, not for bathing. David was asking for his royal robes to be cleansed from the stains of his actions and publicly restored.
3-4For I’m so ashamed.
I feel such pain and anguish within me.
I can’t get away from the sting of my sin against you, Lord!
Everything I did, I did right in front of you, for you saw it all.
Against you, and you above all, have I sinned.
Everything you say to me is infallibly true
and your judgment conquers me.
5Lord, I have been a sinner from birth,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
6I know that you delight to set your truth deep in my spirit. # 51:6 The Hebrew word bat-ţuchâh, although difficult to translate, can mean “something that is covered over, hidden, or concealed.” This could be paraphrased as “you desire light in my darkness” or “you want truth to expose my secrets.”
So come into the hidden places of my heart
and teach me wisdom.
David’s Cleansing
7Purify my conscience! Make this leper clean again! # 51:7 The Hebrew text contains the word hyssop. This was a bushy plant used for sprinkling blood on a healed leper to ceremonially cleanse him for the worship of God. See Lev. 14:3–7; Num. 19.
Wash me in your love until I am pure in heart. # 51:7 Or “Wash me with the snow from above so I can be whitened.”
8Satisfy me in your sweetness, and my song of joy will return.
The places you have crushed within me
will rejoice in your healing touch. # 51:8 In this beautiful verse, the broken places (“places you have crushed”) are literally “broken bones.” Our bones speak allegorically of our inner being, our emotional strength.
9Hide my sins from your face; # 51:9 David was ashamed not just of what others would think but also that he had been seen by God. A truly remorseful person has no thought for reputation but only for righteousness.
erase all my guilt by your saving grace.
10Keep creating in me a clean heart. # 51:10 The word used for “create” takes us back to Gen. 1, and it means to create from nothing. David knew he had no goodness without God placing it within him. David wanted a new creation heart, not just the old one changed.
Fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires, ready to please you. # 51:10 Or “Renew a reliable spirit in my inner being.”
11May you never reject me!
May you never take from me your sacred Spirit!
David’s Consecration
12Let my passion for life be restored,
tasting joy # 51:12 The Hebrew word for “joy” comes from two Hebrew roots: one means “bright” and the other means “lily [whiteness].” David wanted to taste a joy that was bright, pure, and as beautiful as a lily. in every breakthrough you bring to me.
Hold me close to you with a willing spirit
that obeys whatever you say.
13Then I can show other guilty ones
how loving and merciful you are.
They will find their way back home to you,
knowing that you will forgive them.
14O God, my saving God,
deliver me fully from every sin,
even the sin that brought bloodguilt. # 51:14 Or simply “blood.” David could have been asking God to spare his life from death (that is, deliverance from death because of his sin).
Then my heart will once again be thrilled to sing
the passionate songs of joy and deliverance!
15Lord God, unlock my heart, unlock my lips,
and I will overcome with my joyous praise!
16For the source of your pleasure is not in my performance
or the sacrifices I might offer to you.
17The fountain of your pleasure is found
in the sacrifice of my shattered heart before you.
You will not despise my tenderness
as I bow down humbly at your feet.
18Because you favor Zion, do what is good for her.
Be the protecting wall around Jerusalem.
19And when we are fully restored,
you will rejoice and take delight
in every offering of our lives
as we bring our sacrifices of righteousness before you in love! # 51:19 Or “then they will offer up bulls on your altar.”
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Psalms 51: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 51
51
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love;
according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 #
Rom 3.4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done that which is evil in thy sight,
so that thou art justified in thy sentence
and blameless in thy judgment.
5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8Fill#51.8 Syr: Heb Make to hear me with joy and gladness;
let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
9Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right#51.10 Or steadfast spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of thy salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners will return to thee.
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,#51.14 Or death O God,
thou God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.
15O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
16For thou hast no delight in sacrifice;
were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.
17The sacrifice acceptable to God#51.17 Or My sacrifice, O God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on thy altar.
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