Psalms 51:1

Psalm 51 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ² 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ³  your loyal love!

Because of ⁴  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ⁵ 

Psalms 52:8

52:8 But I ⁶  am like a flourishing ⁷  olive tree in the house of God;

I continually ⁸  trust in God’s loyal love.

Psalms 69:13

69:13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! ⁹ 

O God, because of your great loyal love,

answer me with your faithful deliverance! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 69:16

69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! ¹¹ 

Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!

Isaiah 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹² 

and sinful people their plans. ¹³ 

They should return ¹⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ¹⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ¹⁶ 

Romans 5:20-21

5:20 Now the law came in ¹⁷  so that the transgression ¹⁸  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

² tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

³ tn Or “according to.”

⁴ tn Or “according to.”

⁵ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”

⁶ tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.

⁷ tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”

⁸ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”

⁹ tn Heb “as for me, [may] my prayer be to you, O Lord, [in] a time of favor.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “O God, in the abundance of your loyal love, answer me in the faithfulness of your deliverance.”

¹¹ tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”

¹² tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

¹³ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

¹⁴ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

¹⁵ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

¹⁶ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

¹⁷ tn Grk “slipped in.”

¹⁸ tn Or “trespass.”