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Gustave Doré’s engraving of David standing crowned and bowed as he mourns Absalom

Psalm 51

What St Athanasius said to pray when you’ve done wrong and want to come back to God, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 19Verses
  • 1Situation

St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus

When to pray it

In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. This is what he gave this one for.

You've done wrong, you know it, you're ashamed, and you want to come back.

You have sinned; you are ashamed, you are turning back, and you are asking for mercy. The words of confession and repentance are in Psalm 51.

Letter to Marcellinus

Psalm 51:7

Where it turns

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

19 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 51

Its own heading For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba.

  1. 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
  2. 2Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
  3. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
  4. 4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
  5. 5Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
  6. 6Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
  7. 7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
  8. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
  9. 9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
  10. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
  11. 11Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
  12. 12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.
  13. 13Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.
  14. 14Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.
  15. 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
  16. 16For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
  17. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
  18. 18In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.
  19. 19Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Psalm 51 is 50 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.

When you've done wrong, or feel the pull to

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All 53 situations, in one guide.

Your turn

Which Psalm are you living right now?

A few honest taps about your life right now, and the psalm an early Church Father gave for exactly that.

  • 3 min
  • 7 questions
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Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.