Psalm 51

¹ Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.

⁴ Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

⁵ Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.

⁶ Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹ Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you.

¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

¹⁵ Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶ For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.

¹⁸ Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

Around Psalm 51

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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