Commentary - Psalm 51:1-6

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 51 is the great penitential psalm, the prayer of a broken man who has come to the end of himself. The superscription tells us the historical context: this is David's prayer after Nathan the prophet confronted him over his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. For months, David had covered his sin, and as he tells us in Psalm 32, God's hand was heavy upon him. His bones wasted away, and his vitality dried up like a drought in summer. But when Nathan came and spoke the word of the Lord, "You are the man," the dam broke. This psalm is the flood of confession that follows.

In these first six verses, David lays the groundwork for his entire appeal. He does not appeal to his own merits, for he has none. He appeals solely to the character of God, to His lovingkindness and abundant compassion (v. 1). He asks for a cleansing that is total and thorough, a washing that goes to the very root of his being (v. 2). He demonstrates true repentance by owning his sin completely, without excuse or shifting of blame (v. 3). He recognizes the ultimate reality of his transgression: that all sin is ultimately against God (v. 4). He then traces the problem to its source, acknowledging his sinful nature from the moment of his conception (v. 5). Finally, he acknowledges what God truly desires, which is not outward conformity, but truth in the inward parts (v. 6). This is a man who has been undone, and is now being remade by the grace of God.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 51 is the fourth of the seven traditional penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). It stands as a profound model for Christian confession. While born out of a specific and heinous set of sins in David's life, its language is so fundamental to the human condition before a holy God that it has been the prayer of repentant sinners for millennia. It follows psalms that speak of deceit and wickedness (e.g., Psalm 50, 52), but here the focus is not on the sins of others, but on the sin of the psalmist himself. This psalm teaches the church how to approach God after a great fall. It is not about groveling in order to appease an angry tyrant, but rather about casting oneself upon the revealed character of a covenant-keeping God who has promised to be merciful.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

The superscription here is invaluable. It anchors this raw, emotional prayer in the hard soil of historical fact. This is not abstract poetry about sin in general. This is about adultery, deception, and murder. David, the man after God's own heart, had fallen spectacularly. He had taken another man's wife and then had that man, a loyal soldier, killed to cover it up. For the better part of a year, he lived with this monstrous hypocrisy. Then God sent Nathan. The prophet's simple parable and pointed accusation, "You are the man," shattered David's defenses. This psalm is what came out of the rubble. It is crucial to remember this context. The depths of repentance described here are in direct proportion to the depths of sin committed.

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the abundance of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

David begins where every sinner must begin: with a plea for mercy founded not on himself, but on God. He doesn't say, "Be gracious to me because I'm sorry," or "because I'll do better." His appeal is entirely directed at God's character. The first word is "gracious", an appeal for unmerited favor. He then gives two grounds for this appeal. First, "according to Your lovingkindness." This is the great covenant word, hesed. It speaks of God's steadfast, loyal, covenant-keeping love. David is, in effect, appealing to God's own reputation. "God, be who You have promised to be." Second, "According to the abundance of Your compassion." David knows his sin is not small. A little bit of mercy won't do. He needs a superabundance, a multitude of compassions. And what does he ask for? "Blot out my transgressions." The image is of wiping a record clean. He wants his sins expunged, removed from the ledger as though they had never been.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.

The plea continues with two more metaphors for purification. First, "Wash me thoroughly." The Hebrew word here is used for laundering clothes, a vigorous, repeated washing to get out a deep stain. David sees his sin not as a superficial speck of dust, but as a deep, ground-in stain that has defiled the very fabric of his being. He needs more than a quick rinse. He needs a divine scrubbing. Second, "cleanse me from my sin." This word is often used in a ceremonial or priestly context. He is asking to be made ritually pure, fit to come back into the presence of God. He is a leper, and he needs the priest to declare him clean. Taken together, these requests show a profound understanding of the defiling nature of sin. It's not just a legal problem (a record to be blotted out), but a moral and spiritual contamination that requires a deep and powerful cleansing.

3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

Here is the turning point from petition to confession. The "For" connects what follows to what came before. Why is he pleading so desperately for mercy? "For I know my transgressions." The Hebrew for "know" here is not just intellectual awareness. It is a deep, personal, experiential knowledge. Before Nathan came, David was suppressing this knowledge, pretending it wasn't there. Now, the blinders are off. He sees his sin for what it is. And it is not a fleeting thought. "My sin is ever before me." It has become the backdrop to his entire existence. He can't get away from it. It haunts his waking moments and troubles his sleep. This is not morbid introspection for its own sake. This is the necessary first step of true repentance: to see your sin as God sees it, and to be unable to look away.

4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And pure when You judge.

This is one of the most theologically profound statements on sin in all of Scripture. At first glance, it seems problematic. Did David not sin against Bathsheba? Against Uriah? Against his family and his nation? Of course he did, and grievously so. But David understands a deeper reality. All sin, no matter who the horizontal victim is, is ultimately a vertical offense. It is a shaking of the fist at the Almighty, a violation of His law, an assault on His character. When I lie to my neighbor, I have transgressed the law of the God of truth. When I steal from my employer, I have offended the God who owns all things. David sees that the ultimate definition of his sin is that it was done "in Your sight." God was the primary audience and the ultimate victim. The second half of the verse flows from this. Because his sin is so clearly an offense against God's revealed will, David completely vindicates God's judgment. He is saying, "Whatever sentence You pronounce, whatever judgment You bring, You are utterly righteous in doing so. I have no defense. Your words are true, and Your judgment is pure." This is the heart of confession: it sides with God against the self.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

David now pushes his diagnosis of the problem to its absolute root. His sin with Bathsheba was not an isolated mistake, a momentary lapse from an otherwise pristine character. It was the predictable fruit of a corrupted nature. "Behold," he says, calling attention to a foundational and perhaps shocking truth. From the very beginning, from the moment of his conception, he was enmeshed in sin. This is a classic text for the doctrine of original sin. It does not mean the act of conception itself was sinful, or that his mother was sinning in bearing him. Rather, it means that he inherited a sinful nature from his parents, and from their parents, all the way back to Adam. He was born into a state of sinfulness. He is not a good man who did a bad thing; he is a sinner from the womb, and his sinful actions flow from his sinful heart. This is not an excuse for his sin, but rather a deeper confession of it. The problem is not just what he has done, but what he is.

6 Behold, You delight in truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.

Again, "Behold." David contrasts his own inward corruption (v. 5) with God's desire for inward reality. God is not interested in the outward show of religion that David, as king, could have easily maintained. He delights in "truth in the innermost being." The Hebrew refers to the "inward parts," the kidneys, which were seen as the seat of the deepest emotions and conscience. God wants reality at the core. He wants integrity all the way down. And this is where David finds his hope. The same God who demands this inward truth is the one who can create it. "In the hidden part You will make me know wisdom." David recognizes that he cannot generate this truth or wisdom himself. His heart is a tangled mess of sin and deceit. It must be an act of divine instruction, a supernatural work of God in the "hidden part" of his soul. His prayer for cleansing is therefore not just for the removal of guilt, but for a fundamental re-creation of his inner man.

Key Words

Hesed, "Lovingkindness"

Hesed is one of the great theological words of the Old Testament. It is notoriously difficult to translate with a single English word. It denotes a steadfast, loyal, faithful love, particularly within the context of a covenant relationship. When David appeals to God's hesed, he is not just appealing to a general sense of niceness. He is appealing to God's sworn covenant promises to him and to Israel. It is a love that is undeserved but reliable. It is the bedrock of a sinner's hope.

Transgression, Iniquity, Sin

In verses 1-3, David uses three different words for his wrongdoing, and it's helpful to see the distinctions. Transgression (pesha) carries the idea of rebellion or breaking away from authority. Iniquity (avon) points to the twisting or perversion of what is right, and often carries the sense of the guilt that results from the act. Sin (chat-tath) is the most common word and has the basic meaning of "missing the mark," failing to meet God's standard. By piling these terms up, David is confessing the multifaceted ugliness of his actions. It was rebellion, it was perversion, and it was a failure to be what God called him to be.

Application

This psalm is a divine gift to every Christian who has ever sinned, which is to say, every Christian. It provides us with a vocabulary for repentance. When we sin, our first impulse is often to hide, to minimize, or to blame-shift, just as David did for many months. This psalm calls us back to reality.

First, we must learn to appeal to God on the right basis. Our hope is not in the quality of our repentance, but in the quality of God's character. We come to Him because He is full of lovingkindness and abundant compassion, displayed most fully at the cross of Christ. Our forgiveness was purchased there, and when we confess, we are simply agreeing with the verdict God has already rendered in His Son.

Second, we must be honest about the depth of our sin. It is not just a mistake on the surface; it is a stain that goes to the core. We must see our sin as God sees it: as rebellion against Him. A right understanding of verse 4 will revolutionize our repentance. When we see our sin primarily as an offense against a holy and loving God, it guards us from a shallow, man-centered sorrow.

Finally, we must recognize that the problem is not just our actions, but our nature. We are sinners by nature and by choice. This is not grounds for despair, but for a deeper reliance on God's grace. We cannot fix ourselves. We need God not only to blot out our transgressions but to create in us a clean heart. The good news of the gospel is that what God delights in, truth in the inward parts, He is also willing and able to produce in us by His Spirit.