Psalm 51 is the best-known prayer of repentance in the Bible. Its heading ties it to David after the prophet Nathan confronted him over Bathsheba and Uriah, and it asks God for mercy, for cleansing and for “a clean heart”.
Psalm 51 · King James Version
1Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
A plea for mercy that leans on God’s lovingkindness, not on your own record.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Only God can wash a heart this clean: whiter than snow.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
David’s prayer after his worst failure: create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
After a failure, ask God to give back the joy of His salvation and to hold you up.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God does not turn away a broken and humble heart. It is the offering He wants.
The heading of Psalm 51 sets it after the darkest chapter of David’s life. As king he took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his soldiers, and when she became pregnant he arranged for Uriah to die in battle (2 Samuel 11). The prophet Nathan told him a story about a rich man who took a poor man’s only lamb, and when David burned with anger, Nathan said, “Thou art the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). David answered, “I have sinned against the Lord.” The psalm is read as the prayer that came out of that moment.
It moves from confession to renewal to praise. Verses 1-6 ask for mercy and name the sin plainly: “I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.” Verses 7-12 ask God to wash, cleanse and create. “Purge me with hyssop” recalls the plant used in Israel’s rites of cleansing, and “Create in me a clean heart” uses the Hebrew verb of Genesis 1, for a work only God can do. Verses 13-19 look outward: the forgiven one will teach others, sing, and offer what God truly wants, “a broken and a contrite heart”.
Two lines often puzzle readers. “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned” does not mean Bathsheba and Uriah were not wronged; it means every wrong done to a person is also, in the end, a wrong against God, and David does not argue his case. “In sin did my mother conceive me” is not an accusation against his mother or against conceiving a child; it is a way of saying that the problem runs deeper than one act, back to the start of his life. Many scholars also think verses 18-19, a prayer for the walls of Jerusalem, were added when the whole people prayed the psalm after the exile.
Christians pray Psalm 51 in confession and during Lent. In the Catholic Church it is the Miserere: it is prayed on Ash Wednesday and every Friday morning in the Liturgy of the Hours, and its verse 15, “O Lord, open thou my lips”, opens the Church’s daily prayer. It is a psalm of hope, not of self-punishment. It begins with God’s “lovingkindness” and “tender mercies”, and it asks for joy to return: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation”. A “broken spirit” here is a heart that has stopped defending itself, not a spirit crushed by depression or grief, and the psalm should never be used to tell someone who is suffering that they must have sinned.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness. Wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin; I know what I have done. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. I bring You no sacrifice but a broken and contrite heart, and I trust that You will not despise it. Open my lips, and my mouth will praise You. Amen.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confess, and God is faithful to forgive you and make you clean.
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Written after disaster: God’s mercies have not run out. They are new every morning.
It is prayed in repentance: before confession, after a failure, or whenever someone wants to start again with God. Churches use it in Lent and on Ash Wednesday.
Its heading attributes it to David, after the prophet Nathan confronted him about Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12). Many scholars think the last two verses were added later, when the whole people prayed it.
Because some translations follow the numbering of the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, which join Psalms 9 and 10. The text is the same psalm. In Latin it begins Miserere mei, Deus, so it is often called the Miserere.
It asks God to make something new, not to tidy up the old. The Hebrew verb for create is the one Genesis 1 uses for what only God can do, and the heart is the whole inner self: thoughts, desires and will.
Verse 10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Verse 12 is also loved: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation”.