Psalm 51:1
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Psalm 51 is the great penitential psalm, traditionally tied to David's repentance after his sin with Bathsheba. Verse 1 opens his plea for mercy.
What Does Psalm 51:1 Mean?
This verse opens a heartfelt prayer of repentance, pleading for mercy and the blotting out of sin on the basis of God's abundant lovingkindness. The plea does not appeal to the worthiness of the one praying but entirely to the character of God. It is the cry of someone who knows they have nothing to offer but God's own compassion to lean on.
The prayer asks two things: "have mercy upon me" and "blot out my transgressions." And it grounds both in God's nature -- "according to thy lovingkindness" and "according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies." The repeated word "according to" is the key; the measure of the requested mercy is the vastness of God's own compassion, not the size of the sin. "Blot out" is a vivid image, like wiping writing from a record until it can no longer be read. The Hebrew "tender mercies" suggests deep, womb-like compassion, the kind a parent feels. Tradition links this psalm to David's repentance after grave failure, which makes its honesty so enduring. The verse teaches every repentant heart where to look in the moment of guilt -- not inward at one's record, but upward at the boundless mercy of God.
In the Original Language
The Hebrew chesed ("lovingkindness") means steadfast covenant love, and rachamim ("tender mercies") conveys deep, womb-like compassion.
Cross References
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
- Psalm 51:10
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
- Psalm 32:5
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
- Psalm 103:12
Application
When weighed down by guilt, appeal not to your own worthiness but to the vast mercy of God, asking him to blot out what you cannot erase.