18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.
For Yahweh has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.
Don't be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power;
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don't burn with indignation?
A day to build your walls-- In that day, he will extend your boundary.
Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One,{"Anointed One" can also be translated "Messiah" (same as "Christ").} the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.
I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: you who call on Yahweh, take no rest, and give him no rest, until he establish, and until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.
For Yahweh has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper. Peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces. For my brothers' and companions' sakes, I will now say, "Peace be within you." For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good.
For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 51
Commentary on Psalms 51 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 51
Though David penned this psalm upon a very particular occasion, yet, it is of as general use as any of David's psalms; it is the most eminent of the penitential psalms, and most expressive of the cares and desires of a repenting sinner. It is a pity indeed that in our devout addresses to God we should have any thing else to do than to praise God, for that is the work of heaven; but we make other work for ourselves by our own sins and follies: we must come to the throne of grace in the posture of penitents, to confess our sins and sue for the grace of God; and, if therein we would take with us words, we can nowhere find any more apposite than in this psalm, which is the record of David's repentance for his sin in the matter of Uriah, which was the greatest blemish upon his character: all the rest of his faults were nothing to this; it is said of him (1 Ki. 15:5), That "he turned not aside from the commandment of the Lord all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.' In this psalm,
Those whose consciences charge them with any gross sin should, with a believing regard to Jesus Christ, the Mediator, again and again pray over this psalm; nay, though we have not been guilty of adultery and murder, or any the like enormous crime, yet in singing it, and praying over it, we may very sensibly apply it all to ourselves, which if we do with suitable affections we shall, through Christ, find mercy to pardon and grace for seasonable help.
To the chief musician. A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.
Psa 51:1-6
The title has reference to a very sad story, that of David's fall. But, though he fell, he was not utterly cast down, for God graciously upheld him and raised him up.
In these words we have,
Psa 51:7-13
Psa 51:14-19