51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! 1
Renew a resolute spirit within me! 2
51:11 Do not reject me! 3
Do not take your Holy Spirit 4 away from me! 5
73:21 Yes, 6 my spirit was bitter, 7
and my insides felt sharp pain. 8
139:7 Where can I go to escape your spirit?
Where can I flee to escape your presence? 9
1 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.
2 tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”
3 tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”
4 sn Your Holy Spirit. The personal Spirit of God is mentioned frequently in the OT, but only here and in Isa 63:10-11 is he called “your/his Holy Spirit.”
5 sn Do not take…away. The psalmist expresses his fear that, due to his sin, God will take away the Holy Spirit from him. NT believers enjoy the permanent gift of the Holy Spirit and need not make such a request nor fear such a consequence. However, in the OT God’s Spirit empowered certain individuals for special tasks and only temporarily resided in them. For example, when God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him, the divine Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14).
6 tn Or perhaps “when.”
7 tn The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing attitude in a past time frame.
8 tn Heb “and [in] my kidneys I was pierced.” The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing condition in a past time frame.
9 tn Heb “Where can I go from your spirit, and where from your face can I flee?” God’s “spirit” may refer here (1) to his presence (note the parallel term, “your face,” and see Ps 104:29-30, where God’s “face” is his presence and his “spirit” is the life-giving breath he imparts) or (2) to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).