--- title: "Psalms 51 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Psalms 51 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thr" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51" --- [ Read](/kjv/psalms/51)[ Commentary](/study/psalms/51)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/psalms/51) Audio 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin *is* ever before me. 4 Against 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. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.* 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden *part* thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; *that* the bones *which* thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.* 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me *with thy* free spirit. 13 *Then* will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: *and* my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.* 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give *it:* thou delightest not in burnt offering.* 17 The sacrifices of God *are* a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. [Psalms 50](/study/psalms/50) [Psalms 52](/study/psalms/52) ## Commentary To verse 1 The *title* is long: "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba." The propriety of this title has been greatly suspected, says Bishop *Horsley*: "That this Psalm was not written on the occasion to which the title refers, is evident from the 4th and 18th verses. The 4th verse [Psalms 51:4](/kjv/psalms/51/4) ill suits the case of David, who laid a successful plot against Uriah's life, after he had defiled his bed: and the 18th [Psalms 51:18](/kjv/psalms/51/18) verse refers the Psalm to the time of the captivity, when Jerusalem lay in ruins." Dr. *Kennicott* is of the same mind. He says: "The title is misplaced; that it was written during the *captivity*, and the cessation of the temple worship; the author under great depression of mind, arising from the guilt of some crime, probably some compliance with heathen idolatry, not *murder* nor *adultery*; is plain from the 4th verse, "Against THEE ONLY have I sinned." The crime mentioned in the *title* was not only against God, but against the whole order of civil society; against the life of the noble and valiant captain whose wife Bath-sheba was, and against every thing sacred in friendship and hospitality. It was a congeries of sins against God and society. Were it not for the [Psalms 51:4](/kjv/psalms/51/4), [Psalms 51:18](/kjv/psalms/51/18), and [Psalms 51:19](/kjv/psalms/51/19) verses, the rest of the Psalm would accord well enough with the *title*, and the deep penitence it expresses would be suitable enough to David's state. But see on [Psalms 51:4](/kjv/psalms/51/4); [Psalms 51:18-19](/kjv/psalms/51/18-19). Verse [Psalms 51:1](/kjv/psalms/51/1). ***Have mercy upon me, O God*** — Without mercy I am totally, finally ruined and undone. ***According to thy loving-kindness*** — Mark the gradation in the sense of these three words, *Have MERCY on me*, חנני chonneni; thy *LOVING-KINDNESS*, חסדך chasdecha; - thy TENDER MERCIES, רחמיך rachameycha, here used to express the Divine compassion. The propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation. The *first*, rendered *have mercy* or *pity*, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they respectively make over them. The *second*, rendered *loving-kindness*, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of *kindness* and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former. The *third*, rendered *tender mercies*, denotes what the Greeks called σπλαγχνιζεσθαι, that *most tender pity* which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See *Chandler*. ***Blot out my transgressions*** — מחה *mecheh, wipe out*. There is a reference here to an *indictment*: the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be *defaced*; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, *to* *discharge the ink*, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the *mercy, loving-kindness*, and *tender* *compassions* of the Lord can do. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51","name":"Psalms 51 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Psalms 51 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thr","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","name":"clarkes commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms","name":"Psalms"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/51","name":"51"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```