FOR THE DIRECTOR of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
18In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Original Meaning
PSALM 51 IS the fourth of seven so-called “penitential psalms” in the Psalter (Pss. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), in which confession and repentance from personal sin is the focus of the composition.1 This psalm also introduces the second collection of “Davidic psalms,” which extends (except for Pss. 66–67) from Psalms 51–70/71 (at the end of Book 2).
In its discussion of God’s lack of delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings (51:16), the psalm shares connections with the similar discussion in 50:8–14. Like Psalm 50, the present one does not absolutely reject sacrifice but looks forward at the end to the restoration of “righteous” sacrifices and burnt offerings that will delight Yahweh in a restored Jerusalem (51:19; cf. 50:14, 15, 23). In its desire for forgiveness for sin and its concern to instruct sinners in the way of Yahweh that leads to restoration, Psalm 51 also has links with Psalm 25.
In its present position in the Psalter the psalm stands as an individual response to the exhortation with which Psalm 50 concludes: “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God” (50:23). Psalm 51 lifts up a “thank offering” of confession and an amended life made possible by a “broken and contrite heart” (51:16–17), and it seeks the restoration of “the joy of your [God’s] salvation” (51:12).
Structurally, the psalm may be divided into six parts: an opening plea for forgiveness from sin (51:1–2), a confession of sin (51:3–6), a plea for cleansing from sin (51:7–9), a plea for spiritual restoration (51:10–12), a vow of praise and public contrition (51:13–17), and a concluding expanded plea for the restoration of Zion/Jerusalem and “righteous” sacrifice (51:18–19). This latter section may well have been added to an essentially individual psalm in order to reflect the needs of the exilic community, who had lost Jerusalem and the temple and were struggling to understand what constituted “righteous sacrifice” in their new circumstance scattered among the nations, far from their ancestral home.
The Heading (51:0)
THE HEADING BEGINS with the familiar reference to “the director of music” and is described as a “psalm” (mizmor) of David.2 In addition to this more usual information, the heading also includes a historical notice that interprets this psalm as a response to God’s confrontation of David through the prophet Nathan over David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba.3
Plea for Forgiveness (51:1–2)
THE PSALMIST APPEALS to the “unfailing love” (ḥesed)4 of God as the basis of hope for forgiveness. Although he has failed through sin, Yahweh does not fail but continues in his commitment to sinful humans who acknowledge their sin and rely on God’s merciful forgiveness and love. This is the required attitude of dependence that Israel refers to with the phrase “fear of the LORD.” The forgiveness sought is described in a series of imperative verbs for cleansing: “blot out” (mḥh),5 “wash away” (kbs),6 and “cleanse” (ṭhr).7 It is certainly possible that this concern with cleansing reflects a ritual activity in the temple. We know that worshipers immersed themselves in ritual baths carved in the limestone at the southern approach to the Temple Mount. Some such ritual of confession, repentance, and cleansing may be in mind here.
Along with the three verbs for cleansing, the psalmist uses three nouns for sin: “transgressions” (pešaʿ ), “iniquity” (ʿawon), and “sin” (ḥaṭṭaʾt).8 Rather than focus on specific types of sin, the use of all three terms seems intended to be comprehensive, so that the psalmist’s confession is far-reaching and complete. This interpretation is confirmed in verse 3, where he admits his sin by referring only to the first and last categories previously mentioned (pešaʿ and ḥaṭṭaʾt), indicating the whole constellation of sin is intended, not just these two categories.
Confession of Sin (51:3–6)
I KNOW MY TRANSGRESSIONS. The psalmist does not simply express awareness of sin with these words but contrition—sorrow and a commitment not to repeat the offense. His claim that the sin is against Yahweh “only” may seem to belittle the offense against Bathsheba, against her husband, Uriah, or against society as a whole. But the intent is perhaps to heighten the sense of offense by acknowledging that ultimately violations of the covenant are offenses against God himself and are judged by divine sanction rather than societal acceptance or disapproval alone. The measure of the psalmist’s sin in this case is “what is evil in [God’s] sight” (51:4)—a much higher standard than the world holds.
You are proved right. Unlike Job, the psalmist freely acknowledges the justice of the divine accusation: God is “proved right”9 and “justified.”10 Once again—as often in the psalms—God is seen as both the accuser bringing the charge (“when you speak”) and the judge rendering the verdict (“when you judge”).
Sinful at birth. By way of contrast to God’s righteousness, the psalmist now concedes that his sin proceeds from a longstanding sinful nature. Rather than a clear articulation of the theological principle of “original sin” (though not incompatible with such a view), he recognizes that sin has had long-term and far-reaching influence in his life. This is honest self-evaluation that does not minimize the significance of sin by considering it an anomaly in an otherwise unblemished life. The psalmist does not appeal the judge’s decision in the law case but accepts the judgment, acknowledges the rightness of it, and prepares to respond with contrition.
Truth in the inner parts. In his expressions of self-awareness, the psalmist exhibits the kind of transparency God desires: He wants “truth [ʾemet] in the inner parts.” The word ʾemet emphasizes reliability and trustworthiness over absolute accuracy. God is seeking a person whose external profession is consistent with the inner reality of his or her being that is often kept hidden away “in the entrails” (baṭṭuḥot; NIV “in the inner parts”; see comments in Bridging Context section). This kind of vulnerability allows God to transform one’s inner self by teaching “wisdom in the inmost place” (51:6b). The psalmist affirms that appropriate revelation of the inner self requires divine wisdom.
Plea for Cleansing (51:7–9)
HAVING CONFESSED SIN, the psalmist now seeks the kind of cleansing from its effects that will allow restoration of relationship with God. The passage ends (51:9) with the psalmist’s desire that God no longer take account of his sin, thus allowing relationship to continue. The passage is marked by the use, in reverse order, of the same terms for cleansing in the opening section. There we saw “blot out,” “wash away,” and “cleanse”; here we have “cleanse,”11 “wash,” and “blot out.” The result is a sort of chiastic arrangement of elements.12
The term translated “cleanse” in NIV is actually a form of the Hebrew verb ḥṭʾ (“sin”), which in the Piel (as here) means “to free from (the effects of) sin.” Branches of the “hyssop” plant13 were apparently bound together to form an aspergillum, which was dipped in water and used in rituals of cleansing to sprinkle water on the persons or items requiring purification. This more formal ritual of cleansing is accompanied by “fulling” in order to make them “whiter than snow.” Perhaps the two references are to inner (invisible) cleansing and outer (visible) purification.
To be cleansed of sin and its consequences is to experience joy and restoration. The painful effects of sin are here equated with the crushing of bones. And since it is God who has done the crushing, clearly sin has damaged the psalmist’s relation with God as well. He now seeks restoration of relationship and realizes that it will only happen if God takes the extraordinary step of “hiding his face” from his sins. To “hide the face” normally implies divine anger and rejection of the sinner (cf. 13:1; 27:9). When God hides his face, the psalmist feels abandoned and distressed (30:7; 143:7). Here, however, he pleads with Yahweh to “hide his face”—not from the psalmist but from his sins. Such an act implies that God chooses not to take one’s failings into account but to “blot them out” (51:1, 9). Such restoration is entirely in God’s hands and is predicated on the “unfailing love” and “compassion” of Yahweh (51:1).
Plea for Spiritual Restoration (51:10–12)
CONFESSION AND RITUAL cleansing are necessary steps to restoration of relationship with God. But any complete and continuing reconciliation requires a renewal of the inward spirit from which human purposes and actions flow. In these verses, the psalmist emphasizes the need for a transformed inner attitude characterized by a “pure heart,” a “steadfast spirit,” and a “willing spirit.” These characteristics are indications of enduring change and transformation that provide the firm foundation for continuing relationship with God.
Having undergone both inner and outer cleansing as well as a lasting transformation of the spirit, the psalmist can now hope to be sustained by the lasting experience of the presence of Yahweh. The continued empowerment of the divine Holy Spirit and the renewed assurance of deliverance combine to provide a sustainable hope (51:11–12).
Vow of Praise and Public Contrition (51:13–17)
FOR ISRAEL AND the psalmist, confession and restoration are never simply private acts but involve the redeemed in public acts of joyous proclamation and response. Here the psalmist’s anticipation of deliverance leads to vows of public acts of praise and contrition that provide instructive exhortation to right actions for other sinners (51:13). “Transgressors” (pošeʿim) and “sinners” (ḥaṭṭaʾim) will learn the “ways” of Yahweh by learning of the psalmist’s transformation through God’s redeeming grace. Deliverance from “bloodguilt”14 loosens his tongue to joyous proclamations of public praise (51:14–15).
You do not delight in sacrifice. A second bit of instruction embedded in the psalmist’s vows strikes the same theme as the first (51:16): What God desires is inward change, marked by truth, wisdom, and a broken, contrite heart. Here, as in the Prophets (and Ps. 50), the object is not the absolute rejection of all substitutionary animal sacrifice (although the seeds of that later realization are planted here). The psalmist instead intends to demonstrate forcefully what sacrifice is really about and what gives true efficacy to the outward, ritual acts. The groundwork for Christian sacramental theology—and indeed the radical critique of that theology by nonsacramental groups such as the Society of Friends (Quakers)—is laid by the realization that it is the inward reality that is effective, not the symbolic outward signs.
Plea for Restoration of Zion (51:18–19)
MAKE ZION PROSPER. For the first time in this psalm the theme of Zion enters the picture (51:18). The picture presented here—of the broken walls of Jerusalem being rebuilt like the broken and contrite heart of the psalmist—is one that stands contrary to the Davidic context presumed in the heading. The concern expressed for the rebuilding of Jerusalem has the effect of adapting this individual plea for deliverance to the circumstance of the exilic Jewish community, while the mention of Zion links Psalm 51 back to 50:2 and 48:2, 11–12. As the psalmist seeks through confession and contrition to stimulate the restoration of right relationship with God, so the exilic community sought through the words of this psalm to confess their sin and to lay the groundwork for the restoration of the sacrificial system, through which they had known continued forgiveness, renewal, and communion with their covenant God, Yahweh.
Righteous sacrifices. While the emphasis of the original psalm is on the transparent congruity of an inward relationship to God that validates one’s outward acts, it may well be that the exilic community read those verses about the spiritualizing of sacrifice as indicative of their own situation, where temple ritual was precluded because of its destruction. The hope expressed at the end of the psalm, then, is that with the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem and the temple itself, “righteous sacrifices”—sacrifice consistent with the picture presented in Psalms 50 and 51—will once again be offered and be acceptable to Yahweh.
Note how these final verses respond to the earlier statements of 51:16–17 by utilizing the same terminology in the context of restoration. In 51:16, Yahweh does “not delight in sacrifice,” nor does he “take pleasure in burnt offerings.” By contrast, however, in 51:18–19 it is Yahweh’s “good pleasure” that will lead to the restoration of Jerusalem and his “delight” in “righteous sacrifices” and “burnt offerings.” In this way the exilic community reaffirms their understanding that it is the inner attitude of sin that invalidated the sacrificial system of Israel and led to the demise of the kingdom in exile. It will be renewal of the inward life of repentance and faith that will restore the covenant community in its relationship with God.
Bridging Contexts
TRUTH IN THE INNER PARTS. God wants a kind of transparency in the lives of his people. The instruction to assume an attitude of intimate vulnerability with God uses two unusual terms to get the idea across. The first (baṭṭuḥot; NIV “inner parts,” 51:6) occurs only here and in Job 38:36, making its meaning somewhat obscure.15 The second is more common but in a very different context, so that the meaning here is an extension from the more normal usage. This word (satum; NIV “the inmost place”), a passive participle from the root stm, is more commonly used to describe the “plugging up” of available water sources (wells, springs, channels) to prevent their use by another party. In this way the wells dug by Abraham were “plugged up” by Philistines who became jealous of the growing wealth of Isaac (Gen. 26:15, 18).16
Stopping the wells that supplied cities was one way of crippling the power of the enemy (2 Kings 3:19, 25). While such damage could sometimes be repaired, much effort would have to be diverted to the task, and in some cases the trouble might not prove worth the effort. In a slightly different way, during the days of the invasion of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army, Hezekiah had all the available water sources in Judah “plugged up” so that the invading troops would be deprived of their support (2 Chron. 32:3–4).
Perhaps the most famous example of stopping up a water source is the diversion of the waters of the Gihon Spring into a pool within the walls of Jerusalem, also accomplished by Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:30).17 The water sources were not permanently plugged so that no water flowed at all but were diverted and visible access concealed from the enemy. This use of stm to describe the hiding of water sources in order to keep them from the view of the enemy brought on a whole new set of meanings related to the verbal root.
The new nuance is found most openly in God’s word deflating the ego of the king of Tyre in Ezekiel: “Are you wiser than Daniel? Is no secret [satum] hidden from you?” (Ezek. 28:3). Through the power of God, Daniel was, of course, the master interpreter of dreams that had stumped all the sages and diviners of the king. So here satum refers to “secret things” hidden from general knowledge. Daniel also figures prominently in this developing nuance of the term when it is used to describe the “plugging up” of the words of the divine vision that were to be sealed until the end time: “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up [setom] the vision for it concerns the distant future” (Dan. 8:26). “But you, Daniel, close up [setom] and seal [waḥatom] the words of the scroll until the time of the end” (12:4; cf. 12:9).
Both these nuances have in common the willful “plugging up” and “hiding away” of something to prevent it being accessed by someone else. The Philistines plugged up Abraham’s wells, just as the later kings plugged up and hid the water sources of their defeated enemies. Hezekiah plugged up the visible water sources of the land and diverted their waters to hidden reservoirs to prevent enemy use.
The use of this term in Psalm 51 is based on analogy. God seeks open access to those parts of our lives that we have chosen to keep deeply hidden within our inner world. The kind of “hiding” implied by the use of stm emphasizes the willful “holding back” of one’s true self from God or others. By hiding, we protect ourselves from the vulnerability of being truly known. The psalmist clearly has sin in mind as part of the secret hidden away within and carefully shielded from the gaze of others.
The confessing nature of Psalm 51 runs counter to this kind of self-protective secrecy. The psalmist “unplugs” the inner barriers and allows the streams of honest self-reflection and self-revelation to flow again. It is this transparency that God desires and that in the end leads to the restoration of “the joy of [God’s] salvation” (51:12).
Inner validation of outward ritual. The dynamic revealed in the psalmist’s discussion of “righteous sacrifices” has much in common with the kind of transparency described in the section on personal openness just noted. What gives the rituals of worship and sacrifice meaning is the inward reality of the relationship from which they flow. Without “a broken and contrite heart” on the part of the offerer, God finds no pleasure in sacrifice and burnt offerings.
The Jewish community of the late first and second centuries A.D. found this principle vital to their continuing religious faith and identity. Prior to A.D. 70, the second temple as redesigned and expanded by Herod the Great served as the spiritual center of the Diaspora Jews scattered throughout the world. Many made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the temple in order to worship at least once in their lifetime in the holy shrine, in consort with a universal brotherhood of Jewish believers. The destruction of the temple brought this kind of worship experience to an end. From that day to this, there has been no holy place where the rituals of sacrifice could be performed and participated in. How did that affect the Jewish concept of sacrifice?
Well, in the aftermath of destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 the sacrificial system ceased to operate. The priestly class who had participated in the Jewish revolution against Rome were prohibited from exercising power, and the influential leadership of Judaism passed to the sages in the Great Bet Din (House of Judgment) at Yavneh. There, under the leadership of Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, the sages began to develop plans to enable Judaism to adjust to its new circumstance. In the face of the loss of sacrifice, Yoḥanan and his followers determined that sacrifice could be replaced by the pivotal acts of devotion, prayer, fasting, and the giving of alms. Thus, the sages came to the same conclusion as did Psalm 51: It is the inner relationship of the believer to God that gives value to the outward acts. When the outward acts of worship are prohibited, the inward reality still finds a way of acceptable expression.
Obviously, Christian sacramental theology developed further in this same direction. In many circles, the Christian sacraments are explained as the “visible sign of an invisible reality.” Different Christian groups have placed varying degrees of emphasis on the practice of the sacraments and their efficacy. Some have gone so far as to declare baptism a necessary step in the salvation process. At the other extreme is the radical testimony of the Society of Friends (Quakers), who resist the performance of any outward rituals (including the usual sacraments), holding that it is inward spiritual baptism or inward spiritual communion that is the important reality. In fact, Quakers say, it is possible for the physical acts to assume such importance in the minds of believers that the inward reality of true relationship with God is neglected or even lost. In such cases we come full circle to return to the situation described in Psalms 50 and 51.
Contemporary Significance
TRANSPARENCY. In the case of Psalm 51, the kind of transparency the psalmist exhorts is involved with the acknowledgment and confession of personal sin. Confession of our wrongs to another person can be difficult for us to do.
Knowing our sin. First, we often remain so personally unaware that we do not even recognize sin when it happens. Anger has been a slippery emotion for me. My family did not do anger well. It just wasn’t allowed. I now find that when I feel anger, I am frequently misled because the anger I feel is usually a cover-up for some other emotion I would rather not admit (fear, guilt, shame, sin, vulnerability). The first step I must take is to identify the true source of the anger I am feeling. Often I am unaware up to this point of what is really bothering me. Like the psalmist, I must first “know my transgressions” before I can act to deal with it.
Once I have acknowledged my failing—whatever it may be—I usually have to go through a time of having it “always before me” before I can really respond to it. Knowing my sin doesn’t mean a willingness or the power to confront it effectively. Often I enjoy basking in the anger (and the sense of self-justification it breeds) too much to want to give it up. Admitting sin and working on it is painful, and I don’t like to face pain. Usually, however, once I have chewed on it for a while, I am finally able to get around to doing something about it. I get so sick of seeing it out there in front of me that I at last consent to let it be gone.
Psalm 51 adds several aspects of knowledge that come with awareness of personal sin. When we finally acknowledge our wrongs, we frequently realize our failure is in relation to God. Rather than some twisted human relationship we might explain away as someone else’s fault (“They make me so mad!”) or an unavoidable consequence of human nature (“Hey, it is just human to cheat [steal, lie on my taxes, etc.]!”), we must admit that our sin is the result of our sinful rejection of the “way of God” for our lives. Our refusal to accept our position as a beloved child of God leaves us relying on our own human abilities to manipulate, intimidate, deceive, and overpower others in order to get what we think we need. So God is really at the bottom of all our sin—whenever we allow ourselves to get down to the bottom of it.
Not only is sin against God, but it also has a long history in each of us. The psalmist expresses this by saying, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (50:5). Whether we want to accept the theological position of “original sin” and all its implications, most of us must admit that there is not a time before which our motives were pure, unselfish, and undistorted. We may explain our choices and responses in life as under the influence of family or society contexts, and these do have great effects on who we are and who we become. Regardless of the influences on our lives, we know that we have been essentially self-absorbed and self-centered for as far back as we can remember. We are the center of our universes, and all others are evaluated as they enter our orbit in regards to how their presence affects our hopes, dreams, and sense of physical and spiritual well-being.
To find the roots of sin is not to solve it. Ask any drug addict, alcoholic, or sex addict whether knowing the sociological roots of his or her habit makes beating the addiction any easier. But it can help us see the grounds for the distorted choices and decisions we make and can aid us in building the resolve to break this chain of negative consequences by making different choices in the future.
Cleansing my sin. Once we know our sin and hold it before ourselves, once we acknowledge its roots in the failure of our relation to God, and once we understand the long-term influences and consequences, we are ready to experience the cleansing God offers. The New Testament puts it this way: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
This kind of cleansing involves certain action steps. One of the first is to make amends for wrongs done—to set things right. To acknowledge I lied (stole, cheated, etc.) is a first step. To confess this failure to God and another human is another step forward, but the kind of “cleansing” the psalmist mentions, where “joy and gladness” return, requires taking responsibility and seeking to set things right. Such attempts may not always be accepted graciously by the injured party, but we are seeking not to escape anger, shame, or humiliation but to become a participant in the restoration of God’s world by undoing as much as possible our own evil distortions and twistings.
Sin has consequences. Confession does not erase the effects of our wrongs. Even forgiveness does not necessarily remove the pain. The psalmist indicates this by his statement: “Let the bones you [God] have crushed rejoice” (51:8). Crushed bones may “rejoice,” but they may never be whole again. The effects of sinful choices and evil living may never fully depart from us, any more than the effects of long-term alcoholism or drug addiction or of AIDS contracted from an uncontrolled life of sexual addiction. Our rejoicing may have to be expressed alongside the lasting consequences of our sin.
A new inward person. Awareness, confession, and restitution are not lasting unless accompanied by an inward spiritual change. Attempting to change behavior is often an ineffective way to combat entrenched sin. It is true, however, that as an interim step behavioral modification can provide the needed change of context to allow spiritual change to gain a foothold. That is why mature members of Twelve-Step groups are frequently heard to counsel newcomers to “act as if; fake it until you make it”—that is, assume the processes and acts of recovery even when belief in God or the effectiveness of the steps is still lacking.
Nevertheless, lasting restoration and recovery can only be achieved on the basis of a renewed spiritual relationship with God. We cannot recreate a “clean heart” within ourselves. Only God can regenerate a heart and renew a spirit. The psalmist is right in saying, “Grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (51:12b). Even the power to desire restoration and utter the words of confession that begins this process of renewal—that power comes from God, not ourselves.
The value of sin. The New Testament talks about the “wages of sin” (Rom. 6:23), but what is the value of sin? Most of us think of our sin as being utterly bereft of worth. That is one reason why we hesitate to confess our sin or acknowledge our struggles to others. But confession of sin can be the foundation of teaching and example (Ps. 51:13). Denying sin or covering it up (plugging up the well) prevents any others from drinking at the well of our experience and gaining the life-giving insights we have to offer.
There is another kind of negative assessment made of this kind of self-protective secrecy. By keeping the hidden waters to themselves, the Israelites intended to deny their enemies its life-giving properties. But when we hide our failings in our innermost secret places, we are denying others the benefit of our experience. Let’s realize that our struggles revealed may embolden them to acknowledge and confess their own. Our experience of salvation, forgiveness, and restoration can encourage them that they too can be forgiven and restored, that they too can experience the “joy of [God’s] salvation.” The one true value invested in our forgiven sin is this possibility of testifying to the gracious mercy of God. This testimony is the proper response to God’s re-creation of our inward persons and will be the means by which we will “teach transgressors [his] ways” so that “sinners will turn back to [him]” (51:13).