Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
- KJV Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
- NKJV Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
- NASB Wash me thoroughly from my guilt And cleanse me from my sin.
- NLT Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my 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 asks to be washed thoroughly and cleansed from his sin. He longs for inward purity, not just pardon.
Overview
Using imagery of washing, David recognizes that sin defiles and that only God can make him clean. The repeated requests—'wash,' 'cleanse'—express deep awareness of his guilt and his need for complete purification. This anticipates the cleansing from sin that the New Testament locates in the blood of Christ, which 'cleanses us from all sin' (1 John 1:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Jn 1:7–9But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- Heb 10:21–22and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
- Ezek 36:25I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- Jer 4:14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Ps 51:7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- Isa 1:16Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- Rev 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,
- 1 Cor 6:11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
- Acts 22:16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’
- Rev 7:14“Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- Zech 13:1“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
- Ps 19:12Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
- Heb 9:13–14For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 51:2 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.