Psalm 51
New American Standard Bible
A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.
For the music director. A Psalm of David, when [a]Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 (A)Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness;
According to the greatness of (B)Your compassion, (C)wipe out my wrongdoings.
2 (D)Wash me thoroughly from my guilt
And (E)cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I (F)know my wrongdoings,
And my sin is constantly before me.
4 (G)Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is (H)evil in Your sight,
So that (I)You [b]are justified [c]when You speak
And [d]blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was (J)brought forth in guilt,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire (K)truth in the [e]innermost being,
And in secret You will (L)make wisdom known to me.
7 [f]Purify me (M)with hyssop, and I will be clean;
[g]Cleanse me, and I will be (N)whiter than snow.
8 [h]Let me hear (O)joy and gladness,
Let the (P)bones You have broken rejoice.
9 (Q)Hide Your face from my sins
And wipe out all my guilty deeds.
10 (R)Create [i]in me a (S)clean heart, God,
And renew a (T)steadfast spirit within me.
11 (U)Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your (V)Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the (W)joy of Your salvation,
And sustain me with a (X)willing spirit.
13 Then I will (Y)teach wrongdoers Your ways,
And sinners will [j]be (Z)converted to You.
14 Save me from (AA)the guilt of bloodshed, God, (AB)the God of my salvation;
Then my (AC)tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 Lord, [k](AD)open my lips,
So that my mouth may (AE)declare Your praise.
16 For You (AF)do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a (AG)broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise.
18 (AH)By Your favor do good to Zion;
[l](AI)Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You will delight in [m](AJ)righteous sacrifices,
In (AK)burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then [n]bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Footnotes
- Psalm 51 Title 2 Sam 12:1
- Psalm 51:4 Or may be in the right
- Psalm 51:4 Many mss in Your words
- Psalm 51:4 Lit pure
- Psalm 51:6 Or inward parts
- Psalm 51:7 Or May You purify...that I may be clean
- Psalm 51:7 Or May You cleanse
- Psalm 51:8 Or May You cause
- Psalm 51:10 Lit for
- Psalm 51:13 Or turn back
- Psalm 51:15 Or may You open
- Psalm 51:18 Or May You build
- Psalm 51:19 Or sacrifices of righteousness
- Psalm 51:19 Lit they will offer bulls
Psalm 51
Common English Bible
Psalm 51
For the music leader. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him just after he had been with Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
purify me from my sin!
3 Because I know my wrongdoings,
my sin is always right in front of me.
4 I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
completely correct when you issue your judgment.
5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.[a]
7 Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
9 Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
10 Create a clean heart for me, God;
put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
12 Return the joy of your salvation to me
and sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
and sinners will come back to you.
14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation,
so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
16 You don’t want sacrifices.
If I gave an entirely burned offering,
you wouldn’t be pleased.
17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.[b]
You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
18 Do good things for Zion by your favor.
Rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.
19 Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness—
entirely burned offerings and complete offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
Footnotes
- Psalm 51:6 Heb uncertain
- Psalm 51:17 Correction
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
New American Standard Bible
Bathsheba, David’s Great Sin
11 (A)Then it happened [a](B)in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they brought destruction on the sons of Ammon and (C)besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
2 Now at evening time David got up from his bed and walked around on (D)the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 3 So David sent servants and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not (E)Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of (F)Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers and [b]had her brought, and when she came to him, (G)he slept with her; (H)and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 5 But the woman conceived; so she sent word and informed David, and said, “(I)I am pregnant.”
6 Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, (J)David asked about Joab’s well-being and [c]that of the people, and the condition of the war. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and (K)wash your feet.” So Uriah left the king’s house, and a gift from the king [d]was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept (L)at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 Now when they informed David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 And Uriah said to David, “(M)The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in [e]temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and (N)the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and to sleep with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “(O)Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the day after. 13 Now David summoned [f]Uriah, and he ate and drank in his presence, and he (P)made [g]Uriah drunk; and in the evening Uriah went out to lie on his bed (Q)with his lord’s servants, and he still did not go down to his house.
14 So in the morning David (R)wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 (S)He had written in the letter [h]the following: “[i]Station Uriah on the front line of the [j]fiercest battle and pull back from him, (T)so that he may be struck and killed.” 16 So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he [k]stationed Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and (U)Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent a messenger and reported to David all the events of the war. 19 He ordered the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, 20 then it shall be that if the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you move against the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who (V)struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did a woman not throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you move against the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
22 So the messenger departed and came and reported to David everything that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we [l]pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. 24 Also, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.” 25 Then David said to the messenger, “This is what you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing [m]displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; [n]fight with determination against the city and overthrow it’; and thereby encourage him.”
26 Now when Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, (W)she mourned for her husband. 27 When the time of mourning was over, David sent servants and [o]had her brought to his house and (X)she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But (Y)the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Nathan Rebukes David
12 Then the Lord sent (Z)Nathan to David. And (AA)he came to him and [p]said,
“There were two men in a city, the one wealthy and the other poor.
2 The wealthy man had a great many flocks and herds.
3 But the poor man had nothing at all except (AB)one little ewe lamb
Which he bought and nurtured;
And it grew up together with him and his children.
It would eat [q]scraps from him and drink from his cup and lie [r]in his lap,
And was like a daughter to him.
4 Now a visitor came to the wealthy man,
And he could not bring himself to take any animal from his own flock or his own herd,
To prepare for the traveler who had come to him;
So he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this certainly [s](AC)deserves to die! 6 So he must make restitution for the lamb (AD)four times over, since he did this thing and [t]had no compassion.”
7 Nathan then said to David, “(AE)You yourself are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘(AF)It is I who anointed you as king over Israel, and it is I who rescued you from the hand of Saul. 8 I also gave you (AG)your master’s house and put your master’s wives [u]into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you [v]many more things like these! 9 Why (AH)have you despised the word of the Lord, by doing evil in His sight? (AI)You have struck and killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you (AJ)have taken his wife as your wife, and you have slaughtered him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 Now then, (AK)the sword shall never leave your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 This is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household; (AL)I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will sleep with your wives in [w]broad daylight. 12 Indeed, (AM)you did it secretly, but (AN)I will do this thing before all Israel, and [x]in open daylight.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “(AO)I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has (AP)allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die. 14 However, since by this deed you have (AQ)shown utter disrespect for the [y]Lord, the child himself who is born to you shall certainly die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
Loss of a Child
Later the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s [z]widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child; and David (AR)fasted and went and (AS)lay all night on the ground. 17 (AT)The elders of his household stood beside him in order to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. 18 Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to [aa]us. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm?” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20 So David got up from the ground, (AU)washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and (AV)worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and when he asked, they served him food, and he ate.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was [ab]alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.” 22 And he said, “While the child was still alive, (AW)I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘(AX)Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ 23 But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? (AY)I am going to him, but (AZ)he will not return to me.”
Solomon Born
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and slept with her; and she gave birth to a son, and [ac](BA)he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him [ad]Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 11:1 Lit at the return of the year
- 2 Samuel 11:4 Lit took her
- 2 Samuel 11:7 Lit welfare of
- 2 Samuel 11:8 Lit went out
- 2 Samuel 11:11 Or huts
- 2 Samuel 11:13 Lit him
- 2 Samuel 11:13 Lit him
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Lit saying
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Lit Give
- 2 Samuel 11:15 Lit severe
- 2 Samuel 11:16 Lit gave
- 2 Samuel 11:23 Lit were upon
- 2 Samuel 11:25 Lit be evil in your sight
- 2 Samuel 11:25 Lit seize your battle against
- 2 Samuel 11:27 Lit brought her
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Lit said to him
- 2 Samuel 12:3 Lit his piece
- 2 Samuel 12:3 Or on his chest
- 2 Samuel 12:5 Lit is a son of death
- 2 Samuel 12:6 Or showed no consideration
- 2 Samuel 12:8 Lit on your lap; or chest
- 2 Samuel 12:8 Lit like these and like these
- 2 Samuel 12:11 Lit the sight of this sun
- 2 Samuel 12:12 Lit before the sun
- 2 Samuel 12:14 Lit enemies of the Lord (a euphemistic reference to God); DSS word of the Lord
- 2 Samuel 12:15 Lit wife
- 2 Samuel 12:18 Lit our voice
- 2 Samuel 12:21 Some ancient versions still alive
- 2 Samuel 12:24 Some mss she
- 2 Samuel 12:25 I.e., beloved of the Lord
2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
Common English Bible
David and Bathsheba
11 In the spring,[a] when kings[b] go off to war, David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone and inquired about the woman. The report came back: “Isn’t this Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers to take her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had been purifying herself after her monthly period.) Then she returned home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
6 Then David sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about the welfare of Joab and the army and how the battle was going. 8 Then David told Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”
Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 However, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with all his master’s servants. He didn’t go down to his own house. 10 David was told, “Uriah didn’t go down to his own house,” so David asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just returned from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 “The chest and Israel and Judah are all living in tents,” Uriah told David. “And my master Joab and my master’s troops are camping in the open field. How[c] could I go home and eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? I swear on your very life,[d] I will not do that!”
12 Then David told Uriah, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day 13 David called for him, and he ate and drank, and David got him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out to sleep in the same place, alongside his master’s servants, but he did not go down to his own home.
14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 He wrote in the letter, “Place Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be struck down and die.”
16 So as Joab was attacking the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew there were strong warriors. 17 When the city’s soldiers came out and attacked Joab, some of the people from David’s army fell. Uriah the Hittite was also killed. 18 Joab sent a complete report of the battle to David.
19 “When you have finished reporting all the news of the battle to the king,” Joab instructed the messenger, 20 “if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who killed Jerubbaal’s son Abimelech?[e] didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.’”
22 So the messenger set off, and when he arrived he reported to David everything Joab sent him to say.
23 “The men overpowered us,” the messenger told David. “They came out against us in the open field, but we fought against them[f] up to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Archers shot down on your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants died. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.”
25 David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t be upset about this because the sword is that way: taking the life of this person or that person. Continue attacking the city and destroy it!’ Encourage Joab!”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her back to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.
But what David had done was evil in the Lord’s eyes.
Nathan pronounces God’s judgment
12 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When Nathan arrived he said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich, one poor. 2 The rich man had a lot of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing—just one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised that lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup—even sleep in his arms! It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to visit the rich man, but he wasn’t willing to take anything from his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the visitor.”
5 David got very angry at the man, and he said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the one who did this is demonic![g] 6 He must restore the ewe lamb seven times over[h] because he did this and because he had no compassion.”
7 “You are that man!” Nathan told David. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and delivered you from Saul’s power. 8 I gave your master’s house[i] to you, and gave his wives into your embrace. I gave you the house[j] of Israel and Judah. If that was too little, I would have given even more. 9 Why have you despised the Lord’s word by doing what is evil in his eyes? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife as your own. You used the Ammonites to kill him. 10 Because of that, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own, the sword will never leave your own house.
11 “This is what the Lord says: I am making trouble come against you from inside your own family. Before your very eyes I will take your wives away and give them to your friend, and he will have sex with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did what you did secretly, but I will do what I am doing before all Israel in the light of day.”
13 “I’ve sinned against the Lord!” David said to Nathan.
“The Lord has removed your sin,” Nathan replied to David. “You won’t die. 14 However, because you have utterly disrespected the Lord[k] by doing this, the son born to you will definitely die.” 15 Then Nathan went home.
Bathsheba’s child dies
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became very sick. 16 David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground. 17 The senior servants of his house approached[l] him to lift him up off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn’t eat with them either.
18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. “David wouldn’t listen to us when we talked to him while the child was still alive,” they said. “How can we tell him the child has died? He’ll do something terrible!”
19 But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized the child had died.
“Is the child dead?” David asked his servants.
“Yes,” they said, “he is dead.”
20 Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the Lord’s house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.
21 “Why are you acting this way?” his servants asked. “When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch,[m] but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!”
22 David replied, “While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The Lord may have mercy on me and let the child live. 23 But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won’t come back to me.”
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had sex with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon.[n] The Lord loved him 25 and sent word by the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah[o] because of the Lord’s grace.[p]
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 11:1 Or At the turn of the year
- 2 Samuel 11:1 LXX, Tg, Vulg; MT messengers
- 2 Samuel 11:11 LXXL; MT lacks How.
- 2 Samuel 11:11 Or I swear on your life and your soul’s life; cf LXX
- 2 Samuel 11:21 LXX, Syr, Judg 7:1; MT Jerub-besheth
- 2 Samuel 11:23 Or we were upon them
- 2 Samuel 12:5 Or as good as dead; MT a son of death
- 2 Samuel 12:6 LXX; MT fourfold (cf Exod 22:1)
- 2 Samuel 12:8 Syr daughters
- 2 Samuel 12:8 Syr daughters
- 2 Samuel 12:14 MT the Lord’s enemies—a euphemism or ancient scribal correction (cf note at 1 Sam 25:22)
- 2 Samuel 12:17 LXXL, DSS(4QSama); MT stood over
- 2 Samuel 12:21 LXXL, OL; MT lacks kept watch.
- 2 Samuel 12:24 Qere; Kethib he (David) named
- 2 Samuel 12:25 Jedidiah means Loved by the Lord.
- 2 Samuel 12:25 Heb uncertain; some Heb and LXX manuscripts by the Lord’s word
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