14 Deliver me from blood, O God, God of my salvation, My tongue singeth of Thy righteousness.
`Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon.
And my tongue uttereth Thy righteousness, All the day Thy praise!
A Song, a Psalm, by sons of Korah, to the Overseer, `Concerning the Sickness of Afflictions.' -- An instruction, by Heman the Ezrahite. O Jehovah, God of my salvation, Daily I have cried, nightly before Thee,
for not knowing the righteousness of God, and their own righteousness seeking to establish, to the righteousness of God they did not submit.
and on their resisting and speaking evil, having shaken `his' garments, he said unto them, `Your blood `is' upon your head -- I am clean; henceforth to the nations I will go on.'
Yet I, in Jehovah I exult, I do joy in the God of my salvation.
`O Lord, according to all Thy righteous acts, let turn back, I pray Thee, Thine anger and Thy fury from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mount, for by our sins, and by the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people `are' for a reproach to all our neighbours;
`To Thee, O Lord, `is' the righteousness, and to us the shame of face, as `at' this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, in all the lands whither Thou hast driven them, in their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee.
Israel hath been saved in Jehovah, A salvation age-during! Ye are not ashamed nor confounded Unto the ages of eternity!
Lo, God `is' my salvation, I trust, and fear not, For my strength and song `is' Jah Jehovah, And He is to me for salvation.
I confess Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I honour Thy name to the age. For Thy kindness `is' great toward me, And Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.
My mouth recounteth Thy righteousness, All the day Thy salvation, For I have not known the numbers. I come in the might of the Lord Jehovah, I mention Thy righteousness -- Thine only. God, Thou hast taught me from my youth, And hitherto I declare Thy wonders. And also unto old age and grey hairs, O God, forsake me not, Till I declare Thy strength to a generation, To every one that cometh Thy might. And Thy righteousness, O God, `is' unto the heights, Because Thou hast done great things, O God, who `is' like Thee? Because Thou hast showed me many and sad distresses, Thou turnest back -- Thou revivest me, And from the depths of the earth, Thou turnest back -- Thou bringest me up. Thou dost increase my greatness, And Thou surroundest -- Thou comfortest me, I also thank Thee with a vessel of psaltery, Thy truth, O my God, I sing to Thee with a harp, O Holy One of Israel, My lips cry aloud when I sing praise to Thee, And my soul that Thou hast redeemed, My tongue also all the day uttereth Thy righteousness, Because ashamed -- because confounded, Have been those seeking my evil!
And Thou, O God, dost bring them down To a pit of destruction, Men of blood and deceit reach not to half their days, And I -- I do trust in Thee!
and Thou `art' righteous concerning all that hath come upon us, for truth Thou hast done, and we have done wickedly;
`And after all that hath come upon us for our evil works, and for our great guilt (for Thou, O our God, hast kept back of the rod from our iniquities, and hast given to us an escape like this),
and he writeth in the letter, saying, `Place ye Uriah over-against the front of the severest battle, and ye have turned back from after him, and he hath been smitten, and hath died.' And it cometh to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appointeth Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men `are'; and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and there fall `some' of the people, of the servants of David; and there dieth also Uriah the Hittite.
And David heareth afterwards and saith, `Acquitted `am' I, and my kingdom, by Jehovah, unto the age, from the blood of Abner son of Ner;
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