"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar."
Psalm 51
The Psalm has been traditionally associated with David's great sin with Bathsheba, although this is strongly contested and disputed by many scholars. But this is immaterial to our study of it. If it was not this sin, it illustrates the Psalm sufficiently well for a true understanding of it. In any case, the arguments against this identification are not in our view convincing. If, then, this was the circumstance, and the sin referred to, it is important to realise that this confession did not take place for a whole year after the incident - a whole year living with an uneasy conscience, before the shaft of the Spirit's conviction struck into him, exposing to him the enormity of his sin. For all its intense, agonised feeling the Psalm displays an orderly sequence - this is some indication of the Holy Spirit's inspiration - and may be divided as follows: 1-3, Invocation; 4-6, Confession; 7-9, Prayer for forgiveness; 10-13, Prayer for renewal; 14-17, Praise and thanksgiving; 18, 19, Conclusion.