Psalm 51
1599 Geneva Bible
51 When David was rebuked by the Prophet Nathan for his great offenses, he did not only acknowledge the same to God, with protestation of his natural corruption and iniquity, but also left a memorial thereof to his posterity. 7 Therefore first he desireth God to forgive his sins, 10 And to renew in him his holy Spirit. 13 With promise that he will not be unmindful of those great graces. 18 Finally, fearing lest God would punish the whole Church for his fault, he requireth that he would rather increase his graces toward the same.
To him that excelleth. A Psalm of David, when the Prophet Nathan [a]came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, [b]according to thy loving-kindness: according to the multitude of thy compassions put away mine iniquities.
2 Wash me [c]thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from mine sin.
3 For I [d]know mine iniquities, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, against thee only have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight, that thou mayest be just when thou [e]speakest, and pure when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was born in iniquity, and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, thou [f]lovest truth in the inward affections: therefore hast thou taught me wisdom in the secret of mine heart.
7 Purge me with (A)hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear [g]joy and gladness, that the [h]bones, which thou hast broken, may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and put away all mine iniquities.
10 [i]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 thine holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and establish me with thy [j]free Spirit.
13 Then shall I teach thy [k]ways unto the wicked, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from [l]blood, O God, which art the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing joyfully of thy righteousness.
15 [m]Open thou my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest no sacrifice, though I would give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a [n]contrite spirit: a contrite and a broken heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Be favorable unto [o]Zion for thy good pleasure: build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou accept the sacrifices of [p]righteousness, even the burnt offering and oblation: then shall they offer calves upon thine altar.
Footnotes
- Psalm 51:1 To reprove him because he had committed so horrible sins, and lain in the same without repentance more than a whole year.
- Psalm 51:1 As his sins were manifold and great, so he requireth that God would give him the feeling of his excellent and abundant mercies.
- Psalm 51:2 My sins strike so fast in me, that I have need of some singular kind of washing.
- Psalm 51:3 My conscience accuseth me so, that I can have no rest till I be reconciled.
- Psalm 51:4 When thou givest sentence against sinners, they must needs confess thee to be just, and themselves sinners.
- Psalm 51:6 He confesseth that God who loveth pureness of heart, may justly destroy man, who of nature is a sinner much more him, whom he had instructed in his heavenly wisdom.
- Psalm 51:8 He meaneth God’s comfortable mercies toward repentant sinners.
- Psalm 51:8 By the bones he understandeth all strength of soul and body, which by cares and mourning are consumed.
- Psalm 51:10 He confesseth that when God’s Spirit is cold in us, to have it again revived, is as a new creation.
- Psalm 51:12 Which may assure me that I am drawn out of the slavery of sin.
- Psalm 51:13 He promiseth to endeavor that others by his example may turn to God.
- Psalm 51:14 From the murder of Uriah, and the others that were slain with him, 2 Sam. 11:17.
- Psalm 51:15 By giving me occasion to praise thee, when thou shalt forgive my sins.
- Psalm 51:17 Which is a wounding of the heart, proceeding of faith, which seeketh unto God for mercy.
- Psalm 51:18 He prayeth for the whole Church, because through his sin it was in danger of God’s judgment.
- Psalm 51:19 That is, just and lawful, applied to the right end, which is the exercise of faith and repentance.
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
1599 Geneva Bible
11 1 The city Rabbah is besieged. 4 David committeth adultery. 17 Uriah is slain. 27 David marrieth Bathsheba.
1 And when the year was [a]expired in the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent (A)Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel, who destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah: but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 And when it was evening-tide, David arose out of his [b]bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s palace: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself: and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired what woman it was: and one said, Is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, wife to Uriah the [c]Hittite?
4 Then David sent messengers, and took her away: and she came unto him and he lay with her: (now she was (B)purified from her uncleanness) and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived: therefore she sent and [d]told David, and said, I am with child.
6 ¶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah came unto him, David demanded him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
8 Afterward David said to Uriah, [e]Go down to thine house, and wash thy feet. So Uriah departed out of the king’s palace, and the king sent a present after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 Then they told David, saying, Uriah went not down to his house: and David said unto Uriah, Comest thou not from thy journey? why didst thou not go down to thine house?
11 Then Uriah answered David, [f]The Ark and Israel, and Judah dwell in tents: and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord abide in the open fields: shall I then go into mine house to eat and drink, and lie with my wife? by thy life, and by the life of thy soul, I will not do this thing.
12 Then David said unto Uriah, Tarry yet this day, and tomorrow I will send thee away. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13 Then David called him, and he did eat and drink before him, and he made him [g]drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
14 And on the morrow David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote [h]thus in the letter, [i]Put ye Uriah in the forefront of the strength of the battle, and recule ye back from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
16 ¶ So when Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah unto a place, where he knew that strong men were.
17 And the men of the city came out, and fought with Joab: and there fell of the people of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war.
19 ¶ And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling all the matters of the war unto the King,
20 [j]And if the king’s anger arise, so that he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye unto the city to fight? knew ye not that they would hurl from the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech son of [k]Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, and he died in Thebez? why went you nigh the wall? Then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.
22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 And the messenger said unto David, Certainly the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, but we [l]pursued them unto the entering of the gate.
24 But the shooters shot from the wall against thy servants, and some of the king’s servants be dead: and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.
25 Then David said unto the messenger, [m]Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing trouble thee: for the sword devoureth [n]one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and destroy it, and encourage thou him.
26 ¶ And when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 So when the mourning was past, David sent and took her into his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son: but the thing that David had done, [o]displeased the Lord.
12 1 David reproved by Nathan, confesseth his sin. 18 The child conceived in adultery, dieth. 24 Solomon is born. 30 Rabbah is taken. 31 The citizens are grievously punished.
1 Then the Lord sent [p]Nathan unto David, who came to him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceedingly many sheep and oxen:
3 But the poor had none at all, save one little sheep which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up with him, and with his children also, and did eat of his own morsels, and drank of his own cup, and slept in his bosom, and was unto him as his daughter.
4 Now there came a [q]stranger unto the rich man, who [r]refused to take of his own sheep, and of his own oxen to dress for the stranger that was come unto him, but took the poor man’s sheep, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 Then [s]David was exceedingly wroth with the man, and said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing, [t]shall surely die,
6 And he shall restore the lamb (C)fourfold, because he did this thing, and had no pity thereof.
7 Then Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I (D)anointed thee King over Israel, and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.
8 And gave thee thy lord’s [u]house, and thy lord’s [v]wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel, and of Judah, and would moreover (if that had been too little) have given thee [w]such and such things.
9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the [x]children of Ammon.
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
11 Thus said the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and will (E)take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of his [y]sin.
12 For thou diddest it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
13 Then David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath [z]put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast caused the enemies of the Lord to [aa]blaspheme, the child that is born unto thee, shall surely die.
15 ¶ So Nathan departed unto his house: and the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was sick.
16 David therefore besought God for the child, and fasted and [ab]went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 Then the Elders of his house arose to come unto him, and to cause him to rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat [ac]meat with them.
18 So on the seventh day the child died: and the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how then shall we say unto him, The child is dead, [ad]to vex him more?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20 Then David [ae]arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped, and afterward came to his own house, and bade that they should set bread before him, and he did eat.
21 Then [af]said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou didst rise up, and eat meat,
22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted, and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will have mercy on me, that the child may live?
23 But now being dead, wherefore should I now fast? [ag]Can I bring him again anymore? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
24 ¶ And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her, (F)and she bare a son, and [ah]he called his name Solomon: also the Lord loved him.
25 For the Lord had sent [ai]by Nathan the [aj]Prophet: therefore [ak](G)he called his name Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 11:1 The year following about the spring time.
- 2 Samuel 11:2 Whereupon he used to rest at afternoon, as was read of Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. 4:7.
- 2 Samuel 11:3 Who was not an Israelite born, but converted to the true religion.
- 2 Samuel 11:5 Fearing lest she should be stoned according to the Law.
- 2 Samuel 11:8 David thought that if Uriah lay with his wife, his fault might be cloaked.
- 2 Samuel 11:11 Hereby God would touch David’s conscience, that seeing the fidelity and religion of his servant, he would declare himself so forgetful of God, and injurious to his servant.
- 2 Samuel 11:13 He made him drink more liberally than he was wont to do, thinking hereby he would have lain by his wife.
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Hebrew, saying.
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Except God continually uphold us with his mighty spirit, the most perfect fall headlong into all vice and abomination.
- 2 Samuel 11:20 Or, thou shalt do this, if.
- 2 Samuel 11:21 Meaning, Gideon, Judg. 9:52, 53.
- 2 Samuel 11:23 Hebrew, were against them.
- 2 Samuel 11:25 He dissembleth with the messenger, to the intent that neither his cruel commandment, nor Joab’s wicked obedience might be espied.
- 2 Samuel 11:25 Hebrew, so and so.
- 2 Samuel 11:27 Hebrew, was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Because David lay now drowned in sin, the loving mercy of God, which suffereth not his to perish, waketh his conscience by this similitude, and bringeth him to repentance.
- 2 Samuel 12:4 Or, wayfaring man.
- 2 Samuel 12:4 Or, spared.
- 2 Samuel 12:5 Hebrew, the anger of David was kindled.
- 2 Samuel 12:5 Hebrew, is the child of death.
- 2 Samuel 12:8 For David succeeded Saul in his kingdom.
- 2 Samuel 12:8 The Jews understand this of Eglah and Michal, or of Rizpah and Michal.
- 2 Samuel 12:8 That is, greater things than these: for God’s love and benefits increase toward his, if by their ingratitude they stay him not.
- 2 Samuel 12:9 Thou hast most cruelly given him into the hands of God’s enemies.
- 2 Samuel 12:11 Meaning, openly, as at noon-days.
- 2 Samuel 12:13 For the Lord seeketh but that the sinner would turn to him.
- 2 Samuel 12:14 In saying, that the Lord hath appointed a wicked man to reign over his people.
- 2 Samuel 12:16 To wit, to his privy chamber.
- 2 Samuel 12:17 Thinking by his instant prayer that God would have restored his child, but God hath otherwise determined.
- 2 Samuel 12:18 Hebrew, and he will do himself evil.
- 2 Samuel 12:20 Showing that our lamentations ought not to be excessive, but moderate: and that we must praise God in all his doings.
- 2 Samuel 12:21 As they which considered not that God granteth many things to the sobs and tears of the faithful.
- 2 Samuel 12:23 By this consideration he appeased his sorrow.
- 2 Samuel 12:24 To wit, the Lord, 1 Chron. 22:9.
- 2 Samuel 12:25 Hebrew, by the hand of.
- 2 Samuel 12:25 To call him Solomon.
- 2 Samuel 12:25 Meaning, David.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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