About this song
About this song
This song belongs to the Psalms collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.
- Collection
- Psalms
Be kind to me, God, the way You are kind;
With all that tenderness of Yours, wipe out what I have done.
Wash me all the way through from what I got wrong;
Make me clean of it.
I know what I did. It is in front of me and it stays there.
It was You I sinned against, You and no one else,
And I did this where You could see it,
So whatever You say about it will stand,
And You will be clear when You judge.
I was bent from the start; I was already like this
Before my mother had me.
You want what is true down in the hidden part,
And in that hidden part You will teach me what is wise.
Take hyssop to me and I will be clean;
Wash me and I will come out cleaner than fresh snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness again,
So the bones You broke can be glad.
Turn Your face away from what I did
And wipe out all of it.
Make me a clean heart, God,
And put a steady spirit back inside me.
Do not throw me out of where You are,
And do not take Your holy spirit away from me.
Give me back the gladness of being saved by You,
And hold me up with a willing spirit.
Then I will show the ones who have gone wrong how You go,
And people who have missed it will turn back to You.
Get the blood off me, God, the God who saves me,
And my tongue will sing out loud about what is right in You.
Lord, open my lips
And my mouth will say Your praise.
You are not asking for sacrifice, or I would bring it;
Burnt offerings are not what pleases You.
What God takes is a broken spirit,
A heart that has been broken open and is sorry.
You have never turned one of those away.
About the passage
Psalms 51: A clean heart, not a cleaner reputation
Psalm 51 is confession without bargaining. David asks for mercy according to God’s lovingkindness and piles up images of removal: blotting, washing, cleansing. The prayer does not stop with the exposed deeds but moves inward, tracing the problem back toward the speaker’s beginnings and asking for truth in the hidden parts. “Create in me a clean heart” is therefore larger than a promise to behave better. Presence itself belongs to restoration, as God is asked to hide his face from the sins without casting the sinner away. Renewed speech follows only after that inward work: teaching, singing, and praise all depend upon lips God opens. Sacrifice cannot replace a broken and contrite heart, though sacrifices return at the end after restoration has been sought. The closing prayer for Zion widens the frame from one guilty man to the welfare and worship of the community affected by royal life.
Study Psalms 51 in depth →
