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.
(New covenant, God says: Heb. 8 ... 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.)
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.
(Jesus said ... John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.)
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.
(Prayer of David)
11 Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy holy spirit from me.
(God had removed HIS Holy Spirit from Saul and had given HIS Holy Spirit to David. David had sinned greatly by having Uriah killed so he could have Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, openly as his wife. Though Bathsheba was pregnant by David at the time David sent Uriah to the front lines to have him die in battle.)
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.
Comments by Joan Boney
This psalm is a psalm of David. We see much of the Old Testament in this psalm. While psalms are wonderful for us to read and think on, the New Covenant had not been made for the writers of the psalms. We live in the New Covenant with better promises and we must be aware of that and focus on that even as we read these psalms.
This is something I often pray: 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness;
For when I have to deliver correction to church people and "strive" with them over the way of God, often my joy is diminished as I view their sins. I frequently pray, asking God to restore my joy and quickly so I can read Bible in joy and go forth in joy and peace and exhort the church with the spiritual gift of exhortation which I have been given by God.
12 Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;
joy: feeling of great pleasure and happiness
When I think of my salvation, great joy floods into me and overcomes me. When I think of the Word God gives me in troubles of this life, I have great joy and am overwhelmed by that joy.
Then the sins of humans, especially sins of church people, pulls me down and steals joy from me.
But God always restores the joy when I turn to HIM in prayer. And again the Word is joy to me.
And I know the following:
Prov. 3 ... 13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies:
and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
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Psalm 51:6 ... Thou shalt make me to know wisdom
God causes me to have wisdom to be able to go in the way of God in the issues of this life.
And the only thing that really matters in situations is: "God, what do YOU want me to do?"
Going in that way authored by God in the specific trial of life is going in wisdom.