Wash me thoroughly from 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.
- BSB Wash me clean of 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 Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
- Heb 10:21–22and having a great priest over God’s house,
- Ezek 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge 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 yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
- Rev 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
- 1 Cor 6:11Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
- Acts 22:16Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
- Rev 7:14I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.
- Zech 13:1“In that day there will be a spring opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
- Ps 19:12Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.
- Heb 9:13–14For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 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.