Psalm 51 Overview

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Book 2

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Create a clean heart for me, God!

Psalm 51

  How to Use This Page

Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 51

This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 51 as a whole. It includes the following sections:

• Introduction
• Structure
• Background
• Participants

Introduction to Psalm 51

Author

David

Book

Book 2 of the Psalter (Chapters 42-72)

Psalm 51: A Brief Summary

This psalm may be summarized as three pleas: Cleanse me! Restore me! Restore us! The last section orients the entire psalm: the plea for cleansing from guilt is necessary before restoration of David, the king. The restoration of David is necessary before restoration of the people to a right relationship with God.

"Create a clean heart for me, God!" This title is a memorable phrase that helps remember the unique character and content of this psalm.

“Create a clean heart for me, God!” Psalm 51 is well known for David’s plea for cleansing from sin. Animal sacrifices are not enough; “the sacrifices (acceptable to) God are broken spirits; a broken and crushed heart” is what God is looking for. David’s broken heart prepares for a restored relationship, both for himself and all of God’s people: then they “will offer up bulls” that God will find acceptable.

Purpose The Purpose was the psalmist's probable intent or reason for writing this psalm.

The psalmist pleads for God to cleanse him of his sin and restore him.

Content The Content is a concise summary of the whole psalm's content.

I have sinned against you, therefore wash me thoroughly and create a clean heart for me so that I will praise you. I intended to teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you, and so that you will delight in right sacrifices because you do good to Zion!

Message The Message is the main idea the psalmist probably wanted the audience to remember upon or after hearing the psalm.

God cleanses the contrite from sin and gives them new hearts to offer worship that is pleasing to God in Zion.

Psalm 51 At-a-Glance

These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.

v. 1 For the music director. A psalm. By David.	Superscription
v. 2 When Nathan the prophet came to him, when he had had sexual intercourse with Bathsheba.
v. 3 Show mercy to me, God, according to your loyalty; according to your abundant compassion wipe away my transgressions.	Cleanse me	Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, for I have sinned!		guilt
v. 4 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin,
v. 5 because I am [continually] aware of my transgressions, and my sin is constantly in front of me.
v. 6 Against you alone I have sinned, and I have done what is evil in your eyes, such that you are in the right whenever you speak, [and such that] you are faultless whenever you judge.
v. 7 Look, I was born in iniquity, and in guilt my mother conceived me.
v. 8 Look, you desire truth in the covered places, and you make me know wisdom in the closed-off place.
v. 9 [Would you please] purify me with hyssop, so that I will be clean; [would you please] wash me, so that I will be whiter than snow.
v. 10 [Would you please] make me hear gladness and joy; [so that] the bones that you have crushed might rejoice.
v. 11 Hide your face from my sins, and wipe away all my iniquities.
v. 12 Create a clean heart for me, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.	Restore me	Create a clean heart for me, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me!		hope
v. 13 Do not cast me away from before you, and do not take your holy spirit away from me.
v. 14 Restore to me the gladness that results from your salvation, and [would you please] support me with a willing spirit.
v. 15 I intend to teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.	Restore me	I intend to praise you and teach transgressors your ways.		determination
v. 16 Deliver me from bloodshed, God, the God who saves me, [so that] my tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness.
v. 17 Lord, [would you please] open my lips, so that my mouth will report praise concerning you.
v. 18 For you do not delight in sacrifice[s], or else I would give [them]; you are not pleased with burnt offering[s].	Restore us	The sacrifices acceptable to God are broken spirits and hearts.		contemplation
v. 19 The sacrifices [acceptable to] God are broken spirit[s]; a broken and crushed heart, God, you do not despise.
v. 20 Do good to Zion in accord with what pleases you; [would you please] build the walls of Jerusalem.
v. 21 Then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offering[s] and whole offering[s]; then [people] will offer up bulls on your altar.		Then you will delight in right sacrifices in Zion.		hope

Background Orientation for Psalm 51

Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.

• 2 Sam 11-12 recounts David's affair with Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah), who became pregnant with David's child. David then ordered Uriah's death and married Bathsheba to cover up the affair. The prophet Nathan confronted David for his sin and prophesied the death of his child with Bathsheba and continuous strife within his household. In response to Nathan's rebuke, David confessed his sin (2 Sam 12:13). David and Bathsheba's son became very ill, and David desperately pleaded for his son's life. Nevertheless, the child died as Nathan had prophesied, and David then went and worshipped in the house of YHWH.
• In 2 Sam 7, YHWH made a covenant with David to raise up a son in his place and to ensure an everlasting Davidic dynasty. Though David was not permitted to build a temple to YHWH in Jerusalem, he was permitted to aid the preparations for the building task that would be completed by his son Solomon (1 Chr 22).
• Since the king is the representative of the people and is responsible for their well-being, David's individual restoration can lead to collective restoration.

Background Situation for Psalm 51

The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.

Participants in Psalm 51

There are # participants/characters in Psalm 51:

Profile List

Psalmist/David

Psalmist's body

"bones" (v. 10)

"tongue" (v. 16)

"mouth" (v. 17)

God

"the God who saves me" (v. 16)

"Lord" (v. 17)

Israel

"sinners" (v. 15

"transgressors" (v. 15)

"(people)" (v. 21)

Jerusalem

"Zion" (v. 20)

Psalmist's mother

Profile Notes

• Psalmist / David: In Story Behind, we determined to treat David as the "I" of the psalm based on the traditional superscription. The psalmist also refers metonymically to himself when he speaks of his body in agentive terms.
• God: In the version of the psalm we have today (within the context of the Elohistic psalter), God is referred to as "God," "the God who saves me," and "Lord," but never YHWH.
• Israel and Jerusalem: The city Jerusalem/Zion is mentioned explicitly twice in v. 20 and may be understood to refer implicitly also to the people who inhabit the city or at least have it as their capital (= the people of Israel). Israel is never explicitly mentioned, but must be supposed by the impersonal verb יַעֲלוּ in v. 21. The "sinners" are only mentioned explicitly in v. 15, but they may also be implied as the threat in "Deliver me from bloodshed" in v. 16, depending on the interpretation of the situation in view. The text is not explicit whether these sinners are foreigners or Israelites, but their anticipated returning to the Lord suggests that these sinners constitute the restored faithful of Israel who offer right sacrifices in Jerusalem in v. 21. Thus, there seems to be an ironic blend/twist involved, where Israel and the sinners are one and the same participant, just at different points in time and in different roles (the faithless enemies become faithful worshippers). Just as David moves from sinner to restored worshipper, so also does the nation of Israel. The reference to "hearing" gladness and joy in v. 10 may also be an allusive reference to restored Israel in joyful corporate worship.
• Psalmist's mother: The psalmist's mother plays only a limited background role in v. 7 (and some interpret v. 8 as referring to the mother's womb), setting the context for the psalmist's pre-natal sinfulness.

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