51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! 1
May the bones 2 you crushed rejoice! 3
51:9 Hide your face 4 from my sins!
Wipe away 5 all my guilt!
1 tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.
2 sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.
3 tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.
4 sn In this context Hide your face from my sins means “Do not hold me accountable for my sins.”
5 tn See the note on the similar expression “wipe away my rebellious acts” in v. 1.