2 Samuel 12:9

12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ¹  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ²  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Mazmur 51:6-7

51:6 Look, ³  you desire ⁴  integrity in the inner man; ⁵ 

you want me to possess wisdom. ⁶ 

51:7 Sprinkle me ⁷  with water ⁸  and I will be pure; ⁹ 

wash me ¹⁰  and I will be whiter than snow. ¹¹ 

[12:9]  ¹ tc So the Qere; the Kethib has “his.”

[12:9]  ² tn Heb “to you for a wife.” This expression also occurs at the end of v. 10.

[51:6]  ³ sn The juxtaposition of two occurrences of “look” in vv. 5-6 draws attention to the sharp contrast between the sinful reality of the psalmist’s condition and the lofty ideal God has for him.

[51:6]  ⁴ tn The perfect is used in a generalizing sense here.

[51:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the covered [places],” i.e., in the inner man.

[51:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the secret [place] wisdom you cause me to know.” The Hiphil verbal form is causative, while the imperfect is used in a modal sense to indicate God’s desire (note the parallel verb “desire”).

[51:6]  sn You want me to possess wisdom. Here “wisdom” does not mean “intelligence” or “learning,” but refers to moral insight and skill.

[51:7]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.

[51:7]  ⁹ tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.

[51:7]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ¹¹ sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).