Discovery BoxPsalms 51:7-13 
Context51:7 Sprinkle me 1 with water 2 and I will be pure; 3
wash me 4 and I will be whiter than snow. 5
51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! 6
May the bones 7 you crushed rejoice! 8
51:9 Hide your face 9 from my sins!
Wipe away 10 all my guilt!
51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! 11
Renew a resolute spirit within me! 12
Do not take your Holy Spirit 14 away from me! 15
51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!
Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! 16
51:13 Then I will teach 17 rebels your merciful ways, 18
and sinners will turn 19 to you.
1 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
2 tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.
3 tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.
4 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
5 sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).
6 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.
7 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.
8 tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.
9 sn In this context Hide your face from my sins means “Do not hold me accountable for my sins.”
10 tn See the note on the similar expression “wipe away my rebellious acts” in v. 1.
11 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.
12 tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”
13 tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”
14 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.”
15 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).
16 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.
17 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.
18 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).
19 tn Or “return,” i.e., in repentance.
