Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Parallel translations
- WEB Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I will be upright. I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.
- BSB Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.
- NKJV Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
- NASB Also keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be innocent, And I will be blameless of great wrongdoing.
- NLT Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David prays to be kept from deliberate sins so they will not rule him, that he may be blameless. He seeks God's restraining grace against willful rebellion.
Overview
Beyond hidden faults, David asks God to hold him back from 'presumptuous' (high-handed, deliberate) sins lest they gain mastery over him. He longs for integrity, free from 'great transgression.' This prayer recognizes that holiness requires God's keeping power, anticipating the gospel reality that grace breaks sin's dominion (Rom 6:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 119:133Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
- Rom 6:12–14Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
- 1 Sam 25:39And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
- Ps 7:10My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.
- Acts 24:16And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
- Deut 17:12–13And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
- Gen 20:6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
- Ps 11:7For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
- Rom 6:16–22Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
- Ps 18:23I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
- Exod 21:14But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
- 1 Chr 10:13–14So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
- 2 Pet 2:10But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
- Num 15:30–31But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
- 1 Sam 25:32–34And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 19:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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