4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in thy sight; that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, be clear when thou judgest.
Far be the thought: but let God be true, and every man false; according as it is written, So that thou shouldest be justified in thy words, and shouldest overcome when thou art in judgment.
And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am no longer worthy to be called thy son.
There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he withheld anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife; and how should I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
because he has set a day in which he is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by [the] man whom he has appointed, giving the proof [of it] to all [in] having raised him from among [the] dead.
And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Thou art righteous, who art and wast, the holy one, that thou hast judged so;
And they sing the song of Moses bondman of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful [are] thy works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true [are] thy ways, O King of nations. Who shall not fear [thee], O Lord, and glorify thy name? for [thou] only [art] holy; for all nations shall come and do homage before thee; for thy righteousnesses have been made manifest.
But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up to thyself wrath, in [the] day of wrath and revelation of [the] righteous judgment of God,
(And all the people who heard [it], and the tax-gatherers, justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John;
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God executeth judgment himself. Selah.
And he caused his son to pass through the fire, and used magic and divination, and appointed necromancers and soothsayers: he wrought evil beyond measure in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said to David, Jehovah has also put away thy sin: thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, even the child that is born to thee shall certainly die.
Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah to do evil in his sight? thou hast smitten Urijah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Urijah the Hittite to be thy wife.
If any one sin and act unfaithfully against Jehovah, and lie to his neighbour as to an entrusted thing or a deposit or [that in which] he hath robbed or wronged his neighbour, or have found what was lost, and denieth it, and sweareth falsely in anything of all that man doeth, sinning therein; then it shall be, if he hath sinned and transgressed, that he shall restore what he robbed or that in which he hath defrauded, or the deposit, or the lost thing which he found, or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; and he shall restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto; to [him to] whom it belongeth shall he give it, on the day of his trespass-offering. And his trespass-offering shall he bring to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the small cattle according to thy valuation, as a trespass-offering, unto the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah, and it shall be forgiven him concerning anything of all that he hath done so as to trespass therein.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 51
Commentary on Psalms 51 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 51
Ps 51:1-19. On the occasion, compare 2Sa 11:12. The Psalm illustrates true repentance, in which are comprised conviction, confession, sorrow, prayer for mercy, and purposes of amendment, and it is accompanied by a lively faith.
1-4. A plea for mercy is a confession of guilt.
blot out—as from a register.
transgressions—literally, "rebellions" (Ps 19:13; 32:1).
2. Wash me—Purity as well as pardon is desired by true penitents.
3. For … before me—Conviction precedes forgiveness; and, as a gift of God, is a plea for it (2Sa 12:13; Ps 32:5; 1Jo 1:9).
4. Against thee—chiefly, and as sins against others are violations of God's law, in one sense only.
that … judgest—that is, all palliation of his crime is excluded; it is the design in making this confession to recognize God's justice, however severe the sentence.
5, 6. His guilt was aggravated by his essential, native sinfulness, which is as contrary to God's requisitions of inward purity as are outward sins to those for right conduct.
6. thou shalt make, &c.—may be taken to express God's gracious purpose in view of His strict requisition; a purpose of which David might have availed himself as a check to his native love for sin, and, in not doing so, aggravated his guilt.
truth … and …wisdom—are terms often used for piety (compare Job 28:28; Ps 119:30).
7-12. A series of prayers for forgiveness and purifying.
Purge … hyssop—The use of this plant in the ritual (Ex 12:22; Nu 19:6, 18) suggests the idea of atonement as prominent here; "purge" refers to vicarious satisfaction (Nu 19:17-20).
8. Make … joy—by forgiving me, which will change distress to joy.
9. Hide, &c.—Turn from beholding.
10. Create—a work of almighty power.
in me—literally, "to me," or, "for me"; bestow as a gift, a heart free from taint of sin (Ps 24:4; 73:1).
renew—implies that he had possessed it; the essential principle of a new nature had not been lost, but its influence interrupted (Lu 22:32); for Ps 51:11 shows that he had not lost God's presence and Spirit (1Sa 16:13), though he had lost the "joy of his salvation" (Ps 51:12), for whose return he prays.
right spirit—literally, "constant," "firm," not yielding to temptation.
12. free spirit—"thy" ought not to be supplied, for the word "free" is, literally, "willing," and "spirit" is that of David. "Let a willing spirit uphold me," that is, with a soul willingly conformed to God's law, he would be preserved in a right course of conduct.
13. Then—Such will be the effect of this gracious work.
ways—of providence and human duty (Ps 18:21, 30; 32:8; Lu 22:32).
14. Deliver—or, "Free me" (Ps 39:8) from the guilt of murder (2Sa 12:9, 10; Ps 5:6).
righteousness—as in Ps 7:17; 31:1.
15. open … lips—by removing my sense of guilt.
16. Praise is better than sacrifice (Ps 50:14), and implying faith, penitence, and love, glorifies God. In true penitents the joys of pardon mingle with sorrow for sin.
18. Do good, &c.—Visit not my sin on Thy Church.
build … walls—is to show favor; compare Ps 89:40, for opposite form and idea.
19. God reconciled, material sacrifices will be acceptable (Ps 4:5; compare Isa 1:11-17).