Psalm 51 With Commentary
Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
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.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Commentary
This Psalm is attributed to David. He is aware of his sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and later got her husband killed. For this sin, the prophet Nathan made him aware that God had decided to punish him.
The Psalmist pleads for mercy to God. He feels engulfed in guilt. He cries out to God to wash away his crime. He asks God to clean him with 'hyssop,' a reference to sprinkling in Jewish rites for purification.
He pleads with God to give him a pure heart and not to take away the gift of the Holy Spirit from him. Holy Spirit is believed to confer wisdom, so the Psalmist is asking God not to take away his gift of understanding.
The Psalmist refers to his broken spirit as he has stopped feeling the emotion of joy. He has lost his willpower. The Psalm ends with the hope that God may forgive him and be glad to make Israel more prosperous.