Psalm 51

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1
w Have mercy on me, 1 O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your x abundant mercy
y blot out my transgressions.
 2 z Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and a cleanse me from my sin!

3 b For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
 4 c Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil d in your sight,
e so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
 5 Behold, f I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
 6 Behold, you delight in truth in g the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me h with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
z wash me, and I shall be i whiter than snow.
 8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
j let the bones k that you have broken rejoice.
 9 l Hide your face from my sins,
and y blot out all my iniquities.
 10 m Create in me a n clean heart, O God,
and o renew a right 2 spirit within me.
 11 p Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not q 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 r return to you.
 14 Deliver me from s bloodguiltiness, O God,
O t God of my salvation,
and u my tongue will sing aloud of your v righteousness.
 15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
 16 w 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 x a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 y Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
z build up the walls of Jerusalem;
 19 then will you delight in a right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and b whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

  1. Cross References
    2 Samuel 12:1
    And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 4:1
    Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
  3. Cross References
    Psalms 106:45
    For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 51:9
    Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
    Isaiah 43:25
    I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
    Isaiah 44:22
    I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
    Acts 3:19
    Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.
    Colossians 2:14
    By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 51:7
    Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
    Isaiah 1:16
    Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.
    Jeremiah 4:14
    O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
    Malachi 3:3
    He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
    Acts 22:16
    And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.
  6. Cross References
    Hebrews 9:14
    How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
    1 John 1:7
    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
    1 John 1:9
    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
    Leviticus 13:6
    And the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the diseased area has faded and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean.
  7. Cross References
    Psalms 32:5
    I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
    Proverbs 28:13
    Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
  8. Cross References
    Genesis 20:6
    Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.
    Genesis 39:9
    He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
    2 Samuel 12:13
    David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
    1 Corinthians 8:12
    Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
  9. Cross References
    Luke 15:18
    I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
    Luke 15:21
    And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
  10. Cross References
    Romans 3:4
    By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.
  11. Cross References
    Romans 5:12
    Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned -
    Romans 5:19
    For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
    Ephesians 2:3
    Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
    Job 14:4
    Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
    Job 15:14
    What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
  12. Cross References
    Job 38:36
    Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
  13. Cross References
    Exodus 12:22
    Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
    Leviticus 14:4
    The priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
    Numbers 19:18
    Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave.
    Hebrews 9:19
    For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 51:2
    Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:18
    Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord : though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
  16. Cross References
    Psalms 35:10
    All my bones shall say, "O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 44:19
    Yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.
    Isaiah 38:13
    I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 16:17
    For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
  19. Cross References
    Psalms 51:1
    Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
  20. Cross References
    1 Samuel 10:9
    When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.
    Jeremiah 24:7
    I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
    Ezekiel 11:19
    And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.
    Ezekiel 36:26
    And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
    Ephesians 4:23 - 24
    And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 24:4
    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
    Matthew 5:8
    Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
    Acts 15:9
    And he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
  22. Cross References
    Lamentations 5:21
    Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old -
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 102:10
    Because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
    2 Kings 13:23
    But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.
    2 Kings 17:20
    And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
    2 Kings 24:20
    For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
    Jeremiah 7:15
    And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.
  24. Cross References
    Romans 8:9
    You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
    Ephesians 4:30
    And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
  25. Cross References
    Luke 22:32
    But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
  26. Cross References
    2 Samuel 11:17
    And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.
    2 Samuel 12:9
    Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
  27. Cross References
    Psalms 24:5
    He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 35:28
    Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.
    Psalms 71:8
    My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
    Psalms 71:15
    My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.
    Psalms 71:24
    And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.
  29. Cross References
    1 John 1:9
    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  30. Cross References
    Psalms 40:6
    In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 34:18
    The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
  32. Cross References
    Psalms 69:35
    For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it.
    Psalms 122:6
    Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they be secure who love you!
  33. Cross References
    Psalms 147:2
    The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
  34. Cross References
    Psalms 4:5
    Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.
    Malachi 3:3
    He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
  35. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 33:10
    They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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