Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Parallel translations
- WEB Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- KJV Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
- NKJV Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
- NASB Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Cleanse me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- NLT Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
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 God to purify him with hyssop so he will be clean, washed whiter than snow. He seeks complete cleansing from sin's defilement.
Overview
Hyssop was used in Israel's rituals to sprinkle blood or water for purification, so David invokes that imagery to plead for cleansing. The promise to be 'whiter than snow' echoes Isaiah 1:18, where God offers to make scarlet sins white. This points to the perfect cleansing achieved by Christ, whose blood truly purifies the conscience.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Jn 1:7But 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.
- Isa 1:18“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
- 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,
- Num 19:18–20Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.
- Heb 9:19For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people,
- 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,
- Exod 12:22Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning.
- Eph 5:26–27to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
- Rev 7:13–14Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”
- Lev 14:49–52He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house;
- Lev 14:4–7the priest shall order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 51:7 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.