Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ¹  May the bones ²  you crushed rejoice! ³ 

biblegateway Psa 51:8

Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken dance.

biblegateway Psa 51:8

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

bibleoremus Psa 51:8

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness; you have crushed me, but make me rejoice again.

biblegateway Psa 51:8

Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; [that] the bones [which] thou hast broken may rejoice.

biblegateway Psa 51:8

Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ¹  May the bones ²  you crushed rejoice! ³ 

¹ tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.

² sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.

³ tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.