Psalms 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ²  (Selah)

Psalms 38:3

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ³ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ⁴ 

Psalms 41:4

41:4 As for me, I said: ⁵ 

“O Lord, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you!

Psalms 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ⁶  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ⁷  you are just when you confront me; ⁸ 

you are right when you condemn me. ⁹ 

Psalms 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ¹⁰ 

powerful men stalk ¹¹  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ¹² 

[32:5]  ¹ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ² tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[38:3]  ³ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[41:4]  ⁵ sn In vv. 4-10 the psalmist recites the prayer of petition and lament he offered to the Lord.

[51:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[59:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ¹¹ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.