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Psalm 51:9
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
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.
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.
Notice
The word “all” makes this plea searching: David asks God to blot out the full extent of his iniquities, leaving none outside his request for mercy.
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What comes to mind as you consider asking God to blot out “all” your iniquities?
Write on thisHow does David’s plea to remain in God’s presence shape your reading of “Hide your face”?
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Where else Scripture says this
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Isaiah 43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.David asks God to blot out iniquities; Isaiah records God declaring that he blots out transgressions for his own sake.
Psalm 51:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your …Both verses ask God to blot out wrongdoing, and the opening prayer grounds that plea in God’s loving kindness and tender mercies.
Acts 3:19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,Both texts speak of sins being blotted out; Acts joins this hope to the command to repent and turn again.
Jeremiah 16:17For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes.Both texts speak of iniquity before God’s face: Jeremiah declares that it cannot be concealed, while David pleads for pardon.
Micah 7:18–19Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he …David asks for his iniquities to be blotted out; Micah praises God as the one who pardons iniquity and delights in loving kindness.
Colossians 2:14wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.Both passages speak of wiping something away: David asks for iniquities to be blotted out; Colossians describes handwriting removed through the cross.
Isaiah 38:17Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.Both use the image of sins removed from God’s sight: David asks God to hide his face; Isaiah describes sins cast behind God’s back.
Isaiah 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.David asks God to blot out his iniquities; Isaiah records God declaring that he has blotted out transgressions and sins.
Zechariah 3:4He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass …Both passages concern the removal of iniquity by God: David pleads for it, while Zechariah records it being declared.
Psalm 109:15Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;Both prayers concern what remains before God, though Psalm 109 asks for judgment and Psalm 51 asks for pardon.
Numbers 5:23“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.The shared image is wiping away; Numbers describes written curses wiped into water, while David asks God to blot out iniquities.
Nehemiah 4:5Don’t cover their iniquity. Don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”Both prayers speak of blotting out sin, but Nehemiah asks God to withhold that mercy from those who insulted the builders.
Where this verse fits
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One step
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Encouragement
David asks God to turn his face from his sins while pleading to remain in God’s presence; his hope for pardon rests with God.
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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).