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Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Psalms 51:11 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.
  • KJV Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
  • BSB Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
  • NKJV Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
  • NLT Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

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 pleads not to be cast from God's presence or to have the Holy Spirit taken from him. He fears losing fellowship with God above all.

Overview

David's deepest dread is not loss of throne but loss of God's presence and Spirit, recalling how the Spirit had departed from Saul. The verse shows that the worst consequence of sin is broken communion with God. Under the new covenant, believers are assured the indwelling Spirit will not depart, a security grounded in Christ's finished work.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Eph 4:30Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
  • 2 Kgs 13:23But Yahweh was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect for them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, and he didn’t cast them from his presence as yet.
  • Isa 63:10–11But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
  • Rom 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
  • Gen 6:3Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”
  • John 14:26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
  • Ps 71:18Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.
  • Luke 11:13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
  • 1 Sam 10:10When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.
  • 1 Sam 16:14Now Yahweh’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.
  • Judg 16:20She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him.
  • Ps 71:9Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails.
  • 2 Th 1:9who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
  • Ps 43:2For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
  • 2 Sam 7:15but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.
  • 2 Kgs 24:20For through the anger of Yahweh, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
  • Judg 15:14When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.
  • 2 Kgs 17:18–23Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
  • Gen 4:14Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. Whoever finds me will kill me.”
  • Jer 7:15I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim.
  • Judg 13:25Yahweh’s Spirit began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
  • 2 Kgs 23:27Yahweh said, “I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
  • Rom 1:4who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 51:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 51:11 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.