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Psalm 51:7
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
5Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.
6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
Notice
“Wash me” puts the plea in God's hands, and “whiter than snow” expresses confidence in how complete his cleansing can be.
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What stands out to you about asking God to wash you?
Write on thisWhat, if anything, makes the words “I will be clean” hard for you to pray?
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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
Isaiah 1:18“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they …Both use snow's whiteness to describe cleansing from sin: the psalm asks for it, and Isaiah speaks God's promise.
1 John 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 Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.Both speak of cleansing from sin; John names the blood of Jesus Christ as the source of that cleansing.
Hebrews 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,Both use the language of cleanness, with hyssop in the psalm and sacrificial blood and ashes in Hebrews.
Ezekiel 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.The psalm asks God for cleansing, while Ezekiel records God's promise to sprinkle clean water and cleanse his people.
Numbers 19:18–20A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched …Hyssop appears in both: David asks for purification with it, and Numbers directs its use in sprinkling water after contact with death.
Psalm 51:2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.Both pleas ask God to wash and cleanse; verse 2 names the sin behind verse 7's images of hyssop and snow.
Hebrews 9:19For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and …Hyssop connects these passages: David names it in his plea, and Hebrews includes it among the materials Moses used for sprinkling.
Revelation 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 …Washing from sin links David's plea with Revelation's praise of Jesus Christ, who washed his people by his blood.
Exodus 12:22You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the …Both name hyssop: the psalm in a plea for purification, Exodus in instructions for applying blood to a house's doorway.
Ephesians 5:26–27that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,The psalm asks God to wash; Ephesians also speaks of cleansing through washing, and names water with the word.
Zechariah 13:1“In that day there will be a fountain opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.The psalm's plea for washing shares Zechariah's concern with sin and uncleanness, for which a fountain will be opened.
Revelation 7:13–14One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?”These lines share the image of whiteness: the psalm describes cleansing, while Revelation's elder asks about people wearing white robes.
Where this verse fits
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Encouragement
The plea is frank about the need for cleansing. Its confidence rests in God: when he washes, the person asking will be clean.
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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).