Mazmur 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ¹  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ²  you are just when you confront me; ³ 

you are right when you condemn me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 51:2

51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing! ⁵ 

Cleanse me of my sin! ⁶ 

1 Samuel 12:9

12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave ⁷  them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s ⁸  army, ⁹  and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

1 Samuel 12:13

12:13 Now look! Here is the king you have chosen – the one that you asked for! Look, the Lord has given you a king!

Maleakhi 3:8

3:8 Can a person rob ¹⁰  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ¹¹ 

[51:4]  ¹ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ² tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ³ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[51:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”

[51:2]  ⁶ sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.

[12:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”

[12:9]  ⁸ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[12:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”

[3:8]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX presupposes an underlying Hebrew text of עָקַב (’aqav, “deceive”), a metathesis of קָבַע (qava’, “rob”), in all four uses of the verb here (vv. 8-9). The intent probably is to soften the impact of “robbing” God, but the language of the passage is intentionally bold and there is no reason to go against the reading of the MT (which is followed here by most English versions).

[3:8]  ¹¹ sn The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24).