Psalm 51 9

Psalm 51:9 kjv

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Psalm 51:9 nkjv

Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.

Psalm 51:9 niv

Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Psalm 51:9 esv

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Psalm 51:9 nlt

Don't keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.

Psalm 51 verses

Psalm 51 9 Meaning

Psalm 51:9 is a fervent prayer from a contrite heart, pleading with God for complete divine mercy and total expurgation of sin. It requests two complementary actions from God: first, that He would turn His gaze away from the petitioner's sins, thereby not regarding them with judgment or condemnation; and second, that He would utterly erase and obliterate the record of all his iniquities. This reflects a desire not merely for superficial covering, but for the profound and comprehensive annulment of transgression and its associated guilt from God's divine memory and judicial ledger.

Psalm 51 9 Context

Psalm 51 is famously known as David's psalm of penitence, penned after his profound sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, exposed by the prophet Nathan (2 Sam 11-12). Following David's immediate confession, the psalm serves as a deep expression of remorse and a heartfelt plea for God's forgiveness and restoration. Prior to verse 9, David acknowledges the vastness and internal nature of his sin (vv. 3-6), admits his inborn inclination to sin (v. 5), and appeals for cleansing and renewal (vv. 7-8). Verse 9 specifically advances this plea by requesting divine action to make his sin as though it never happened in the eyes of God’s justice and remembrance. It moves beyond acknowledging guilt to petitioning for full and irreversible absolution, laying the groundwork for the request for a clean heart and a steadfast spirit that follows.

Psalm 51 9 Word analysis

• Hide thy face: (Hebrew: Haster panekha - הַסְתֵּר פָּנֶיךָ).
  • Haster (הַסְתֵּר): Hifil imperative of the verb sāthar (סָתַר), meaning "to hide, conceal, withdraw." This is an active command from the supplicant to God.
  • Panekha (פָּנֶיךָ): "Your face" (from pānîm - פָּנִים, "face," + 2nd person masculine singular possessive suffix).
  • Significance: This is not a request for God to hide from David, nor for David's sins to be hidden from God's omniscience. Rather, it is a legal and relational plea: that God would not look upon or consider David's sins as a basis for condemnation or a barrier to relationship. It implies God's choosing not to dwell on or impute guilt based on those specific transgressions, effectively turning His "judicial gaze" away. This is a profound request for mercy, contrasted with instances where God sets His face against evildoers in judgment (e.g., Lev 20:5-6). It is an inverse plea, asking for non-condemnatory notice.
• from my sins: (Hebrew: miḥaṭṭā'tay - מֵחַטֹּאתָי).
  • Mi- (מִ-): Preposition meaning "from."
  • Haṭṭā'tay (חַטֹּאתָי): Plural of ḥaṭṭā't (חַטָּאת), meaning "sin, offense, error," literally "missing the mark." The first-person singular possessive suffix "-ay" denotes "my."
  • Significance: This refers to the specific acts of transgression, the failing to meet God's standard. It includes both actions and attitudes that are a deviation from God's holy will.
• and blot out: (Hebrew: ūmaḥēh - וּמְחֵה).
  • Ū- (וּ-): Conjunction "and."
  • Maḥēh (מְחֵה): Qal imperative of māḥāh (מָחָה), meaning "to wipe, erase, obliterate, annul, utterly remove." This imagery often relates to erasing writing from a tablet, a scroll, or a book.
  • Significance: This is a powerful, active verb implying complete and irreversible removal. It's not just a covering, but a total effacement, as if the sin never existed on the record. This goes beyond judicial non-recognition to an absolute removal from the ledger of accountability. It also relates to polemics against the idea that cultic rituals alone could perfectly remove sin; this requires a divine, sovereign act of blotting out.
• all mine iniquities: (Hebrew: kol-'ăwonotāy - כָּל־עֲוֹנוֹתָי).
  • Kol- (כָּל־): Meaning "all, every, entire."
  • 'Ăwonotāy (עֲוֹנוֹתָי): Plural of 'āwon (עָוֹן), meaning "iniquity, guilt, twistedness, perversity, punishment for iniquity." It often denotes the inherent bent or moral depravity that gives rise to sin, or the accumulated guilt from transgressions. The first-person singular possessive suffix "-ay" means "my."
  • Significance: By using "all" and employing 'āwon alongside ḥaṭṭā't, David covers the full spectrum of his sin – from specific acts (ḥaṭṭā't) to the deeper-seated moral crookedness and accumulated guilt ('āwon). The comprehensive nature of the request highlights the petitioner's awareness of the depth and breadth of his fallenness.

Psalm 51 9 Bonus section

The concept of "blotting out" sin in the Old Testament, as seen in Ps 51:9, establishes a foundational truth about God's absolute power and desire for radical forgiveness, far beyond what human rituals or mere time can achieve. This foreshadows the New Covenant reality where through the blood of Christ, not only are sins covered, but they are also irrevocably taken away and remembered no more by God (Heb 9:26, Heb 10:4). The request is not for God to ignore sin in a passive sense, but to actively eliminate its condemning power and its record, which perfectly aligns with the New Testament revelation of atonement through substitution. It represents a deeper theological desire than simply being absolved from punishment; it's a cry for restoration to a state of being uncondemned before God, reflecting the depths of true grace.

Psalm 51 9 Commentary

Psalm 51:9 captures the desperate yearning of a sinner for radical, comprehensive divine forgiveness. "Hide thy face from my sins" is a plea for God to set aside the record of specific transgressions, treating them as though they were unseen, thereby disarming their power to condemn. It is a petition for mercy where justice might otherwise demand imputation. This is complemented by "and blot out all mine iniquities," a powerful metaphorical request for the complete obliteration of sin and its associated guilt from the divine ledger. This goes beyond mere judicial overlooking to total annihilation, ensuring no remnant of condemnation remains. The language emphasizes that only God, by a sovereign act, can achieve such thorough expungement, a reality which points forward to the perfect sacrifice of Christ in the New Covenant as the ultimate means by which sins are truly remembered no more. This verse exemplifies a profound understanding of true forgiveness that goes deeper than human reckoning or temporary ritual, establishing a pathway to complete renewal and communion with a holy God.