Psalm 51 explained: A King Asks to Be Made Clean

A plea for mercy (vv. 1-2)

The heading over this psalm ties it to King David after the prophet Nathan confronted him for taking Bathsheba and arranging the death of her husband, Uriah. David points to nothing but God's steady love, asking for his wrongs to be wiped out like a cancelled debt and washed out like a deep stain.

Owning the wrong (vv. 3-6)

He makes no excuses, and saying he sinned against God "only" does not erase his harm to Bathsheba and Uriah; it treats every wrong as finally a wrong against God, who is fair to judge it. Verses 5 and 6 say his failing runs back to the very start of his life, while God wants truth deep inside a person.

Asking to be cleansed (vv. 7-9)

Hyssop was a small bushy plant used to sprinkle water or blood in rituals that declared a person clean again, for instance after touching a dead body. David asks God to do that cleansing inside him, so that his crushed spirit, pictured as broken bones, can feel joy again.

A new heart (vv. 10-12)

The Hebrew word for "create" is used in the Bible only for what God does, so he is asking for something he cannot produce himself: a clean heart and a steady, willing spirit. His fear of losing God's Spirit probably echoes the earlier king Saul, who is said to have lost it.

What he can offer (vv. 13-17)

He asks to be freed from the guilt of the death he caused, and hopes that once forgiven he can sing again and help other wrongdoers come back. No animal offering could cover this; what God accepts is a heart honestly broken over what it has done.

A prayer for Jerusalem (vv. 18-19)

Many scholars think these closing lines were added later, perhaps when Jerusalem's walls lay in ruins after the Babylonian conquest, to fit the psalm for the community's worship. They pray for the city to be rebuilt, when offerings made with a right heart will please God again.

Key verse: Psalm 51:10

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether verse 5 teaches that every person is born with a sinful nature passed down from the first humans, or is a poetic way of saying how deep this one man's failure ran.

Something to think about

When someone has done real and lasting harm, what do you think it takes for them to be able to start again?