26:6 I maintain a pure lifestyle, 1
so I can appear before your altar, 2 O Lord,
51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! 3
Renew a resolute spirit within me! 4
78:72 David 5 cared for them with pure motives; 6
he led them with skill. 7
1 tn Heb “I wash my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The imperfect verbal emphasizes that this is his habit.
2 tn Heb “so I can go around your altar” (probably in ritual procession). Following the imperfect of the preceding line, the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
3 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.
4 tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”
5 tn Heb “He”; the referent (David, God’s chosen king, mentioned in v. 70) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “and he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.”
7 tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”