Psalms 51:12-19

51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!

Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! ¹ 

51:13 Then I will teach ²  rebels your merciful ways, ³ 

and sinners will turn ⁴  to you.

51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, ⁵  O God, the God who delivers me!

Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. ⁶ 

51:15 O Lord, give me the words! ⁷ 

Then my mouth will praise you. ⁸ 

51:16 Certainly ⁹  you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; ¹⁰ 

you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. ¹¹ 

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ¹²  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ¹³  you will not reject. ¹⁴ 

51:18 Because you favor Zion, do what is good for her! ¹⁵ 

Fortify ¹⁶  the walls of Jerusalem! ¹⁷ 

51:19 Then you will accept ¹⁸  the proper sacrifices, burnt sacrifices and whole offerings;

then bulls will be sacrificed ¹⁹  on your altar. ²⁰ 

[51:12]  ¹ tn Heb “and [with] a willing spirit sustain me.” The psalmist asks that God make him the kind of person who willingly obeys the divine commandments. The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:13]  ² tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. This may be a vow or promise. If forgiven, the psalmist will “repay” the Lord by declaring God’s mercy and motivating other sinners to repent.

[51:13]  ³ tn Heb “your ways.” The word “merciful” is added for clarification. God’s “ways” are sometimes his commands, but in this context, where the teaching of God’s ways motivates repentance (see the next line), it is more likely that God’s merciful and compassionate way of dealing with sinners is in view. Thanksgiving songs praising God for his deliverance typically focus on these divine attributes (see Pss 34, 41, 116, 138).

[51:13]  ⁴ tn Or “return,” i.e., in repentance.

[51:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from bloodshed.” “Bloodshed” here stands by metonymy for the guilt which it produces.

[51:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “my tongue will shout for joy your deliverance.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may my tongue shout for joy.” However, the pattern in vv. 12-15 appears to be prayer/request (see vv. 12, 14a, 15a) followed by promise/vow (see vv. 13, 14b, 15b).

[51:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “open my lips.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “and my mouth will declare your praise.”

[51:16]  ⁹ tn Or “For.” The translation assumes the particle is asseverative (i.e., emphasizing: “certainly”). (Some translations that consider the particle asseverative leave it untranslated.) If taken as causal or explanatory (“for”, cf. NRSV), the verse would explain why the psalmist is pleading for forgiveness, rather than merely offering a sacrifice.

[51:16]  ¹⁰ tn The translation assumes that the cohortative is used in a hypothetical manner in a formally unmarked conditional sentence, “You do not want a sacrifice, should I offer [it]” (cf. NEB). For other examples of cohortatives in the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, see GKC 320 §108.e. (It should be noted, however, that GKC understands this particular verse in a different manner. See GKC 320 §108.f, where it is suggested that the cohortative is part of an apodosis with the protasis being suppressed.)

[51:16]  ¹¹ sn You do not desire a burnt sacrifice. The terminology used in v. 16 does not refer to expiatory sacrifices, but to dedication and communion offerings. This is not a categorical denial of the sacrificial system in general or of the importance of such offerings. The psalmist is talking about his specific situation. Dedication and communion offerings have their proper place in worship (see v. 19), but God requires something more fundamental, a repentant and humble attitude (see v. 17), before these offerings can have real meaning.

[51:17]  ¹² tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “despise.”

[51:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “do what is good for Zion in your favor.”

[51:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Build.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:18]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[51:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “desire, take delight in.”

[51:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “then they will offer up bulls.” The third plural subject is indefinite.

[51:19]  ²⁰ sn Verses 18-19 appear to reflect the exilic period, when the city’s walls lay in ruins and the sacrificial system had been disrupted.