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Psalm 51:11
Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
11Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you.
Notice
“Don’t throw me from your presence” makes the loss David fears concrete: exclusion from the God whose cleansing and renewal he has just sought.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What difference do you notice between asking for a clean heart and asking to remain in God’s presence?
Write on thisWhat would you want to say to God after praying David’s plea about the Holy Spirit?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Ephesians 4:30Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.Both name the Holy Spirit: David pleads against his withdrawal, while Ephesians warns against grieving the Spirit who seals believers for redemption.
2 Kings 13:23But the LORD was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and favored them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy …David asks not to be thrown from God’s presence; Kings describes God’s compassion in withholding that judgment because of his covenant.
1 Thessalonians 5:19Don’t quench the Spirit.The psalm asks God not to take his Spirit; Thessalonians warns believers not to quench the Spirit.
Isaiah 63:10–11But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.Both name God’s Holy Spirit in the context of sin: David pleads against withdrawal, while Isaiah recounts rebellion that grieved him.
1 Samuel 16:14Now the LORD’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.The departure of the LORD’s Spirit from Saul makes concrete the loss David asks God to spare him.
Romans 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 …David pleads for God’s Spirit to remain with him; Romans says that anyone without the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.
John 14:26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.Both name the Holy Spirit: David asks that he remain, while Jesus promises the Father will send him.
Psalm 119:8I will observe your statutes. Don’t utterly forsake me. BETHBoth prayers ask God not to abandon the speaker, pairing dependence on his presence with a desire for a changed life.
Genesis 6:3The LORD said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”Both speak of God’s Spirit in relation to people, though Genesis announces a limit and David pleads against withdrawal.
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?”David asks God not to take his Holy Spirit; Jesus speaks of the Father giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
Psalm 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 …Both plead against being forsaken by God; Psalm 71 names old age, while Psalm 51 places the plea amid confession.
1 Samuel 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.The Spirit of God comes upon a man in Samuel; David asks God not to take his Holy Spirit away.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. feeling distant from God. wanting a steady prayer habit.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Fear of rejection can make prayer hard; David addresses that fear to God himself, asking for the presence and Spirit on whom his restoration depends.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).