Logos Bible Study

Psalm 51:8–12

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51:8Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven!22

May the bones23 you crushed rejoice!24

51:9Hide your face25 from my sins!

Wipe away26 all my guilt!

51:10Create for me a pure heart, O God!27

Renew a resolute spirit within me!28

51:11Do not reject me!29

Do not take your Holy Spirit30 away from me!31

51:12Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!

Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey!32

Read in Logos
Psalm 51:10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Footnotes

  1. 22 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. 23 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. 24 In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.
  4. 25 In this context Hide your face from my sins means “Do not hold me accountable for my sins.”
  5. 26 See the note on the similar expression “wipe away my rebellious acts” in v. .
  6. 27 The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.
  7. 28 Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”
  8. 29 Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”
  9. 30 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.”
  10. 31 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).
  11. 32 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.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Turn your face away from my sins

and blot out all my guilt.

God, create a clean heart for me

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not banish me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore the joy of your salvation to me,

and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.

NLTNew Living Translation

Oh, give me back my joy again;

you have broken me—

now let me rejoice.

Don’t keep looking at my sins.

Remove the stain of my guilt.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Renew a loyal spirit within me.

Do not banish me from your presence,

and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and make me willing to obey you.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Make me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and all my iniquities blot out.

Create a clean heart for me, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and with a willing spirit sustain me.

KJV 1900King James Version

Make me to hear joy and gladness;

That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins,

And blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God;

And renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence;

And take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;

And uphold me with thy free spirit.