Outline of Chapter 32:

         Introduction         An Introduction to Psalm 32

         Inscription            Psalm 32 Inscription

         vv.     1–2           Happy are Those Whose Sins are Forgiven

         vv.     3–4           Divine Discipline is Upon David

         v.       5            Confession of Sin

         vv.     6–7           Protection in the Lord

         vv.     8–9           Spiritual Growth

         vv.    10–11         The Guilty versus the Righteous

         Addendum          Psalm 32 Addendum

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

         Introduction         Barnes Outlines Psalm 32

         Inscription 

         v.       1              Who is Blessed

         v.       2              Robby Dean’s Doctrine of Adam's Original Sin

         v.       2              Robby Dean’s Doctrine of Imputations

         v.       2              Summary of the 3 Synonyms for Sin

         v.       2              Clarke on the 4 Words for Wrongdoing

         v.       2              Paul Quotes these First Two Verses

         v.       3              The Stages of Discipline

         v.       5              Confession of Sins in the Old Testament

         v.       6              The Abbreviated Doctrine of the Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

         v.       7              Problems and Difficulties are Inevitable; Stress is Optional

         v.       7              The Abbreviated Doctrine of Logistical Grace

         v.       8              How to be in the will of God and how to remain in the will of God

         v.       8              Guidance from the Word of God

         v.       9              Evidence Bible: Differences between men and animals

         v.      10              Parallel Texts to Psalm 32:10

         Addendum          Psalm 32 Encapsulates the Spiritual Life

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Psalm 32

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An Introduction to Psalm 32

I ntroduction: Psalm 32 is generally associated with David and his sin with Bathsheba (which included adultery and murder). The sin was covered in 2Sam. 11 (HTML) (PDF) and Nathan the prophet came and spoke to David in 2Sam. 12 (HTML) (PDF). Most consider Psalm 51 (HTML) (PDF) to be a parallel psalm to this psalm. Undoubtedly, this is a lot of common ground between Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. Both speak of the commission of sins, the forgiveness of sins, and the problem of the believer not naming his sins to God.

Whereas, Psalm 51 is specific to this tawdry episode in David’s life, Psalm 32 is not. There is nothing in this psalm which clearly takes us to 2Sam. 11–12, apart from the subject matter of confessed versus unconfessed sin (which can occur at any time in David’s life).

What is absolutely clear in this psalm is, David probably suffering physical ailments for staying out of fellowship for too long a period of time (I said not a word, but my bones wasted away from groaning all the day; day and night your hand lay heavy upon me; my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought—Psalm 32:3–4).. Although I can point to several periods of time when David was out of fellowship for too long, I cannot find a place where he is suffering great physical pain because of it. That does not mean that such a situation did not take place; after all, we have Psalm 22, where David is in so much pain that, there are easy parallels to be drawn between that psalm and the cross.

In the narrative of 2Sam. 11–12, David comes face to face with what he has done by Nathan speaking to him. It does not appear as if David’s bones were being wasted away by means of divine discipline. What David appeared to be struck by in the narrative is a realization as to just how terrible he has been. Here, in Psalm 32, he is also chastised, but the manifestation of that chastisement appears to be physical suffering.

Let me make four possible suggestions with regards to the physical pain found in vv. 3–4: (1) David is suffering this pain at this time, and names his sins to God and is forgiven and this discipline is removed; (2) David had gone through this experience before; and he recalls that experience; (3) Davie is observing someone going through this experience or he recalls someone who has gone through great physical pain and suffering because they did not name their sins to God; (4) David sees his sins being laid upon his son who is dying (this is his son by Bathsheba who was conceived in adultery). Only in the latter case can we associate this psalm with David’s sin in 2Sam. 11 and his confession of sin in 2Sam. 12. Options 1 and 2 seem most reasonable; 3 and 4 are somewhat of a stretch.

So, although we can only guess at the occasion for this psalm, it does stand alone, and gives us a fairly straightforward understanding of being in or out of fellowship; and what one does when out of fellowship. In this way, Psalm 32 stands apart from the circumstances which caused it to be written (which is essentially true for all psalms—knowing what led David to write this or that psalm provides a flavoring or slant on the psalm—but the meaning is always something which is true and meaningful, apart from the circumstances).

There is an interesting exchange near the end of this psalm. David speaks to God (v. 7) and, suddenly, God speaks to David (v. 8). Imagine if that happened to you in the middle of your prayers! We do not really fully understand how someone writes the Word of God down. It is unlikely that there is any sort of a feeling, as Scripture is recorded when the writer feels a number of different emotions; and the Word of God is generally not dictated to the writer (with the exception of Moses writing the Law). Does the person realize that he is writing the Word of God? In my opinion, sometimes yes and sometimes no. Now and again, I will explain a verse or a concept, and I walk away from that thinking to myself, “I nailed that!” Obviously, I did not nail anything, but God the Holy Spirit led me into the truth of the passage and made it possible for me to understand and express it in words. But, there is occasionally a realization that I both understood the passage and explained it reasonably well. Now, I am not writing Scripture. I am simply able to determine when everything fits together as it should.

In a similar fashion, I am sure that during or after, some writers of Scripture understand that they have just written the Word of God. A good example of this is Moses speaking to the children of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. Prior to this, he had been the secretary of God, and he wrote down the Law of God. He knew that was divinely inspired because God spoke the words and then he, Moses, wrote them down. However, in Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to the people, and I think that he gets, this is equivalent to the Word of God, even though these are words which he himself thought to speak.

Of this psalm, Barnes writes: It is remarkable that this psalm refers so much to the “inward” feelings; and that it contains no reference to any external acts - to Jewish sacrifices and offerings. It pertains to the soul and to God; to the inward work of penitence and pardon; to the sorrow of conviction and to the peace of forgiveness; and it shows that there was among the Hebrews a just idea of the nature of religion as a spiritual transaction between the soul and God.

In vv. 1–2, David speaks of how happy a person is, whose sins are forgiven. In vv. 3–4, David speaks of being under tremendous physical pain because he is out of fellowship. In v. 5, David confesses his sins to God. In vv. 6–7, God protects those who are His in a natural disaster. God is our hiding place. There are 2 ways to be guided—God can teach us, or we can be like a mule or a horse, whose every move must be guided through reins and a bridle (vv. 8–9). The choices that we make can lead us into heartache or into great joy (vv. 10–11).

What Psalm 32 does is, it lays out the entire spiritual life for the believer. Although it begins as a psalm about David in pain—and he is in serious pain because he is being discipline for his sins in time—the rest of the spiritual life is laid out for us in these short 11 verses. The concept of salvation (Grace surrounds those who trust in Jehovah), logistical grace, learning God’s Word, and the conclusion where God is glorified and there is great celebration. At the very end, after we complete this psalm, we will also examine how it encapsulates the spiritual life.

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Psalm 32 Inscription

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

Latin Vulgate                          To David himself, understanding.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        To David; a Maskil.

Septuagint (Greek)                A Psalm of instruction by David.

Significant differences:           To, for and by are all legitimate translations of the lâmed preposition. Maskil is a transliteration; psalm of instruction or instruction are translations of this word.

According to Clarke: The Syriac entitles it, “A Psalm of David concerning the sin of Adam, who dared and transgressed; and a prophecy concerning Christ, because through him we are to be delivered from hell.” The Arabic says, “David spoke this Psalm prophetically concerning the redemption.” The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Ethiopic, are the same in meaning as the Hebrew.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       (A special psalm by David.)

Easy English (Pocock)           (This is) a maskil by David

New Century Version             It Is Better to Confess Sin

A maskil of David.

New Life Bible                                             Joy Of Being Forgiven

New Living Translation           A psalm [Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term] of David.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          A Psalm of David for understanding.

Ancient Roots Translinear      A lesson from David.

New Jerusalem Bible             [Of David Poem]

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Of David. Maschil.

HCSB                                     Davidic. A Maskil.

NET Bible®                             By David; a well-written song [The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְכִיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning "to be prudent; to be wise." Various options are: "a contemplative song," "a song imparting moral wisdom," or "a skillful [i.e., well-written] song." The term occurs in the superscriptions of Psalms 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Psalm 47:7.]. The psalmist recalls the agony he experienced prior to confessing his sins and affirms that true happiness comes when one's sins are forgiven. He then urges others not to be stubborn, but to turn to God while forgiveness is available, for God extends his mercy to the repentant, while the wicked experience nothing but sorrow.

My comments: when it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

New Advent Bible                  To David himself, understanding.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                [A Psalm of David.] A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.

Concordant Literal Version    Davidic Contemplating.

English Standard Version      A Maskil [Probably a musical or liturgical term] of David.

LTHB                                     A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.

Matthew Henry                       A psalm of David giving instruction

NASB                                     Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. A [a] Maskil.

Young's Literal Translation     By David. --An Instruction.

The gist of this verse:          This is an instructive psalm written by David.

Translation: By David,... It has long been assumed that to David actually means by David here, indicating that David wrote this psalm. The lâmed preposition can mean with reference to, which would allow for this to be written by David.

As was said in the introduction, it is very difficult to tie this directly to a particular instance in David’s life, even though most people place this along side is sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. However, what clearly identifies this psalm is great physical pain, which is not necessarily related to that sin.

Translation: ...a Maskil. Maskil is a transliteration. This word means an instructive psalm; a contemplative poem. This is the first psalm which bears this title.

Barnes on maskil: The word “Maschil” in the title [משׂכיל maskîyl], is derived from the verb [שׂכל sakal] which means “to look at, to behold, to view;” and then, “to be prudent, circumspect; to act prudently or circumspectly,” as one does who looks attentively and carefully at objects; then it means to be intelligent, prudent, wise. Maschil here is a Hiphil (causative) participle, meaning, therefore “making wise or prudent,” or “conveying instruction.” This title is given to this psalm, as well as to many others, as conveying the idea that the psalm was adapted “to make wise,” or “to impart instruction;” and the sense would be well expressed by our phrase, “didactic song.” “Maschil” is also prefixed to the following psalms: Psalm 42 44 45 52 53 54 55 74 88 89 142. It would be difficult now, however, to discover from the contents of the psalms themselves why the title was affixed to these particularly rather than to many others. Probably this was determined, by those who collected and arranged the psalms, according to some rules that are not now known to us.

Gill discusses its meaning: ...some think it is the name of a musical instrument, on which this psalm was sung; others the first word of a song, to the tune of which it was sung, as Aben Ezra; some say it is so called, because it was explained by an interpreter, as Jarchi; and the Rabbins say, that every psalm that is called "Maschil" was dictated by an interpreter: the Targum renders it "a good understanding"; and the word properly signifies "instruction", or "causing to understand"; and it may be the apostle has some reference to this title in 1Cor. 14:15; It is an instructive psalm; a didascalic ode.

It is important to point out that, maschil is related to being successful and prosperous. This in particular comes out in vv. 8–9—where we can learn and be guided the easy way or the hard way.

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Happy are Those Whose Sins are Forgiven

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

Latin Vulgate                          Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        Blessings [to] a lifting up of a transgression;

[to] a covering of a sin;...

Peshitta (Syriac)                    BLESSED is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is blotted out.

Septuagint (Greek)                Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and who sins are covered.

Significant differences:           It is reasonable to assume that the blessings spoken of here go to someone, so we are assuming that these go to a person or persons described in the verse (which will be confirmed in v. 2). This is what we find in the English translation from the Syriac.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Our God, you bless everyone whose sins you forgive and wipe away.

Easy English (Pocock)           A man is very happy when (God):

- forgives his disobedience

- covers his sin.

Easy-to-Read Version            A person is very happy [Or, "fortunate, blessed."].

when his sins are forgiven.

{That person is very fortunate}

when his sins are erased [Or, "covered over, atoned."].

Good News Bible (TEV)         Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned.

The Message                         Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be-- you get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean.

New Living Translation           Oh, what joy for those

whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sin is put out of sight!.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Blest are those who've been forgiven

For breaking [God's] Laws,

Because they've not hidden their sins.

Ancient Roots Translinear      Happy the lifted transgression and covered sin

God’s Word™                         Blessed is the person whose disobedience is forgiven and whose sin is pardoned.

New American Bible              Blessed is the one whose fault is removed,

whose sin is forgiven.

NIRV                                      Blessed is the one whose lawless acts are forgiven.

His sins have been taken away.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Happy is he who has forgiveness for his wrongdoing, and whose sin is covered.

HCSB                                     How happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered over.

NET Bible®                             How blessed [the Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15). Here it refers to the relief that one experiences when one's sins are forgiven.] is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, [Heb "lifted up."]

whose sin is pardoned! [Heb "covered over."]. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered.

Concordant Literal Version    Happy is he whose transgression is lifted away, Whose sin is covered over!".

Context Group Version          Esteemed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose disgrace is covered.

LTHB                                     Blessed is he whose transgression is lifted, whose sin is covered.

World English Bible                Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.

Young's Literal Translation     O the happiness of him whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.

The gist of this verse:          There is happiness to the person whose wrongdoing has been forgiven and whose sin is atoned for (covered over)

Translation: Blessings [to the one whose] transgression has been lifted up;... The verb used here is the very common verb nâsâʾ (נָשָׂא) [pronounced naw-SAW], which means to lift up and carry away. The picture is, a man’s disobedience, trespass or transgression weighs that man down; and David speaks of happiness to this man who has this lifted up and carried away.

Most people can relate to this in some way on some level. Let’s say that you had a crushing debt, and, for whatever reason, that debt was lifted from off of you, you have a great feeling of relief. Our sins weigh upon us in the same way, whether we fully realize that or not. You may or may not feel badly about the sins that you have committed. However, they are a weight upon you. David felt this weight through great physical pain, which he testifies to in vv. 3–4. This suggests that David committed some sins, did not give much thought to the committing of these sins, and God began to apply pressure upon him through physical discomfort, pain and suffering.

In the New Testament, we fully understand that we are forgiven for all of our sins because they were poured out upon Jesus Christ. When Jesus walked on this earth, He indicated that forgiveness of sin was quite remarkable. You will recall that the religious types questioned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, and Jesus asked them, “Is it easier to say, ‘Take up your pallet and walk’ or ‘your sins are forgiven.’ ” Jesus both healed the man and also told him that his sins were forgiven. The latter was a very big deal.

Gill writes: Sin was first taken off, and transferred from the sinner to Christ, the surety; and who laid upon him really and judicially, as the sins of the people of Israel were put upon the scapegoat typically; and was bore by him, both guilt and punishment, and taken away, finished, and made an end of; and by the application of his blood and sacrifice it is taken away from the sinner's conscience; it is caused to pass from him, and is removed afar off, as far as the east is from the west; it is so lifted off from him as to give him ease and peace, and so as never to return to the destruction of him; wherefore such a man is a happy man; he has much peace, comfort, calmness, and serenity of mind now can appear before God with intrepidity, and serve him without fear; no bill of indictment can hereafter be found against him; no charge will be exhibited, and so no condemnation to him.

Translation:...[and whose] sin has been covered;... Again, we are probably speaking of an individual whose sin is covered, which is the word used most often in the Old Testament. It was not clear in the Old Testament exactly why or how God would take away the sins of mankind; it was clear to many—like David—that their sins would be covered; they would be taken away. In this psalm, David speaks of the great happiness to those who have had their sin covered and their transgression lifted up and taken away.

With regards to the word covered, Barnes writes: The idea is, that the sin would be, as it were, covered over, hidden, concealed, so that it would no longer come into the view of either God or man; that is, the offender would be regarded and treated as if he had not sinned, or as if he had no sin.

The concept of God covering our sins is first taught in Gen. 3, after Adam and the woman sinned. God killed an animal, which was a sacrifice for their sins, and then He covered their nakedness with the animal skins. And for Adam and his wife Jehovah God made coats of skins, and clothed them. (Gen. 3:21). The Bible is very subtle here and nothing is said about killing the animal, but that is the only way one gets the skin of an animal as a piece of clothing. There is also a process to tanning a hide which is not described either. In any case, this would have been the first animal killed; and Adam and the woman probably witnessed the killing of this animal.

The lifting up of sins and the covering of one’s sins is taught in several ways in the Old Testament. Isa. 1:18 reads: "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isa. 43:25 "I [God], I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Isa. 44:21–22 “Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Psalm 85:2 You lifted up the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin.

What I believe to be the case is, believers in the Old Testament did not fully understand just how and why God was able to forgive. God is omniscient and omnipotent, and He is the true God of the Universe, the Creator of All Things; so He certainly has the power to forgive sins; but it is not clearly stated in the Old Testament. Micah 7:18–19 Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because He delights in grace. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. The fact of God being willing and able to forgive sins is clear and unmistakable in this psalm and in Psalm 51; but how this is squared with His perfect justice and righteousness is not known.

In retrospect, all of this is very clear to us. We read Gen. 22, Psalm 22 and Isa. 53, and we see Messiah, the Suffering Servant in these chapters dying for our sins. Believers in the Jewish Era, however, do not appear to be fully cognizant of this. Yes, they offered up animal sacrifices for their sins—day in and day out, this ritual was performed. But a complete understanding of what all of this meant was not clear to Old Testament saints.

This approach does not mean that they were not saved. Believers in the Old Testament were saved exactly as we are saved. They believed in Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, and this trust was all that is needed for salvation (Gen. 15:6). We look back on Jesus Christ, and we trust in Him for our salvation. Now, we may or may not fully understand all that entails the moment we believe in Him. We may not understand that He is God, come into the world as a man via the virgin birth, which meant that He had no imputed sin and no sin nature. We may not understand that He took upon Himself all of our sins at the cross and paid for them, thus satisfying His perfect justice and righteousness in a way that animal sacrifices never could—we may understand very little of that at the point of salvation, but our faith in Jesus Christ is what saves us, not having a full understanding of the Doctrine of Soteriology (Salvation). Most of the time, we understand some small subset of soteriology, but it is our faith in Jesus Christ which is efficacious for our salvation.

What I am saying is, someone who trusted in Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, did not, when offering up an animal sacrifice, say to himself, “That is representative of my Savior, Jehovah Elohim, Who will come in the flesh and die for my sins in the future.” His trust was in Jehovah Elohim, just as was Abraham’s, and he participated in animal sacrifices in obedience to the Law of Moses. The result was, millions of children and adults saw these sacrifices over and over and over again, but never fully and completely understood what they all meant.

Ideally speaking, believers in the time of Jesus, would observe Him on the cross, and it would all come together and make sense to them. However, it is even questionable if anyone stood at the foot of the cross, and tied all of this together. Paul would do this for us in his epistles, which would be written 15 years or more later.

Here is what is amazing about the Bible (one of the many things). Today, if we know the Word of God, then we automatically tie together the animal sacrifices of the Law with the offering of Isaac, with the suffering of David in Psalm 22, with the Suffering Servant of Isa. 53—seeing all of these things as looking forward to our Lord dying on the cross for our sins. It is so clear and perspicuous to many of us, that it is hard to imagine that Old Testament believers did not get it; it is hard to imagine that they read these passages or offered up these animal sacrifices, and yet did not pull it all together. The New Testament fits over the Old Testament like a glove fitted to a hand, as if the writers all knew completely and fully what was and what would be. And yet, no rabbi in Jewish history ever correctly points out, “These animal sacrifices look forward to a time when Jehovah Elohim will become man and die for our sins.” It is even more remarkable that, all soteriology is laid out for us in the Old Testament, although it is unlikely that anyone of that era ever understood it. And yet, they could still be saved, and were, by the millions.

This understanding of believers in the Old Testament and the true concept of progressive revelation can be studied further in Psalm 51 (HTML) (PDF), the Doctrine of Progressive Revelation (HTML) (PDF) and the Dual Authorship of the Scriptures (HTML) (PDF).

Psalm 32:1 reads: Blessings [to the one whose] transgression has been lifted up; [and whose] sin has been covered. Happiness in Scripture is related to God, rather than to things. Happiness is Scripture is based upon God forgiving our sins more than it is upon how much stuff we accumulate in time. Because we are created by God, our relationship to Him is far more important than the things all around us. In this psalm, what is fundamental is solving the sin problem. The great barrier between man and God consists of Adam’s original sin imputed to us, a sin nature which we inherit at birth, and we all commit personal sins. These 3 things place us at odds with God. Psalm 32:1–2 speaks of the happiness we have when this barrier of sin has been removed.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile..

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        Blessings [to] a man does not impute Y^ehowah to him iniquity;

and [there is] no in his spirit deceit.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Blessed is the man to whom the LORD has not reckoned his iniquity, and in whose heart there is no guile.

Septuagint (Greek)                Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose mouth there is no guile.

Significant differences:           In the Hebrew, in the second line, it reads spirit; not mouth or hearti.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       You bless them by saying, "You told me your sins, without trying to hide them, and now I forgive you.".

Easy English (Churchyard)    - does not put it against him when he does bad things

There is nothing false in his spirit.

Easy-to-Read Version            A person is very happy [197]

when the Lord says he is not guilty.

{That person is very fortunate}

he didn’t hide his secret sins. [198]

Good News Bible (TEV)         Happy is the one whom the LORD does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit.

The Message                         Count yourself lucky-- GOD holds nothing against you and you're holding nothing back from him.

New Century Version             Happy is the person

whom the Lord does not consider guilty

and in whom there is nothing false.

New Life Bible                        How happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not hold against him, and in whose spirit there is nothing false.

New Living Translation           Yes, what joy for those

whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,[b]

whose lives are lived in complete honesty!.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And blest is the man God counts not a sinner,

Nor has He found treachery in his mouth.

Ancient Roots Translinear      Happy the human Yahweh considers with no iniquity, with no deceit in his spirit-wind.

God’s Word™                         Blessed is the person whom the LORD no longer accuses of sin and who has no deceitful thoughts.

NIRV                                      Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord never counts against him.

He doesn't want to cheat anyone.

New Jerusalem Bible             How blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt, whose spirit harbours no deceit.

Revised English Bible            Happy is he to whom the Lord imputes no fault

in whose spirit there is no deceit.

New Simplified Bible              Blessed is the person whom Jehovah no longer accuses of sin and who has no deceitful thoughts.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Happy is the man in whom the Lord sees no evil, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Complete Jewish Bible           How blessed those to whom ADONAI imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no deceit!

HCSB                                     How happy is the man the LORD does not charge with sin, and in whose spirit is no deceit!

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               Happy the man whom the Lord does not hold guilty,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

NET Bible®                             How blessed is the one [Heb "man." The word choice reflects the perspective of the psalmist, who is male. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender and age specific "man" has been translated with the more neutral "one."] whose wrongdoing the LORD does not punish [Heb "blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord does not impute wrongdoing."],

in whose spirit there is no deceit [In whose spirit there is no deceit. The point is not that the individual is sinless and pure. In this context, which focuses on confession and forgiveness of sin, the psalmist refers to one who refuses to deny or hide his sin, but instead honestly confesses it to God.].

New International Version      Blessed is the one

whose sin the LORD does not count against them

and in whose spirit is no deceit.

NIV – UK                                Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit [Rom 4:7, 8].

Concordant Literal Version    Happy is the human to whom Yahweh is not reckoning depravity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

Context Group Version          Esteemed is [ the ] man to whom YHWH does not credit iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceipt.

LTHB                                     Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah does not charge iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Syndein                                  Happinesses . . . {to} those'/'How happy is he' . . .; man to whom Jehovah/God does not impute sin/iniquity ; ; to pardon after rebound - release from liability ; the sin}, and in whose spirit {ruwach} there is no guile.

WEB                                      Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn't impute iniquity, In whose spirit there is no decei.

Young's Literal Translation     O the happiness of a man, To whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

The gist of this verse:          There is happiness in the man that Jehovah does not credit iniquity to his account and does not have deceit in his own spirit.

Translation: Happinesses [to] a man to whom Y^ehowah does not impute iniquity;... Although the beginning of this psalm required some interpretation which required adding a few words, this verse, parallel to v. 1, defines that we are speaking of a man. Contrast this with Abram, to whom God imputed righteousness because Abram believed in Him (Gen. 15:6). Here, David is clearly saying that iniquity would not be imputed to him.

Happinesses [to] a man to whom Y^ehowah does not impute iniquity;... It is reasonable to interpret this as referring to Adam’s original sin which is imputed to all mankind (and womankind) at birth. When we believe in Jesus Christ (Jehovah Elohim in the Old Testament), righteousness is imputed to us rather than iniquity (Gen. 15:6).

The Evidence Bible explains: Transgression is violation of the Law. Sin is falling short of the Law’s standard. Iniquity is lawlessness.

Translation: ...and in his spirit [there is] no deceit. What does this mean? This is a reference to the inner person, and, in this case, the inner person of David. Now, in the human spirit, who does man attempt to deceive? God or oneself. The human spirit is where man has fellowship with God. What is happening here is, we are not speaking of the actual function of the human spirit. This is a person who has sinned, but won’t admit this to God, so that his “human spirit” is filled with deceit; his inner person is against God, even if he makes some sort of religious show of his life.

David indicates that, with a person who has come clean with God, there is no deceit in his human spirit. He has admitted his sins to God. Confession of sin is not found in this verse, but it is implied. Just like in the previous verse, man was not found in the verse, but it was implied. Now, an entire concept is implied in this verse, but it is not actually found in this verse. As in the previous verse, we should expect David to make reference to it in the following verse.

Psalm 32:1–2 Blessings [to the one whose] transgression has been lifted up; [and whose] sin has been covered; Happinesses [to] a man to whom Y^ehowah does not impute iniquity; and in his spirit [there is] no deceit. It will become clear that David has sinned and he is being disciplined for it. However, here, he recognizes how man is happy because God lifted up his sin, He has covered his transgression and He has not imputed iniquity to him.

How does a man have deceit in his human spirit? Strictly speaking, he does not. The human spirit is where we store information which allows us to understand and fellowship with God. When we have sinned, this is all shut down. However, the idea here is, the person whose human spirit is functioning normally has fellowship with God and there is no deceit.

What would deceit be? Hiding a sin from God; or rationalizing a sin that you have committed. This is how homosexual believers are kept perpetually out of fellowship. They convince themselves that homosexual actions are not sins but acts of love (they are acts of self-gratification or mutual gratification); so they do not name these sins to God. Therefore, they remain out of fellowship constantly. Any believer who has a sin that he commits, but rationalizes that sin, remains out of fellowship; his human spirit is shut down, and he goes nowhere in his Christian life. You can rationalize you sins in a number of ways. You can blame someone else that you lost your temper. You can say that your sexual desire is put there by God, so acting upon your sexual desire is not sin. You can blame our lousy government and its high taxes for you choosing to cheat on your taxes or to fudge the numbers. You are temporally forgiven for your sins because you name these sins to God; you deceive God, if you rationalize your sins away.

On the other hand, how you feel about your sins is not an issue. What you promise God or what you say to God is not the issue. You may feel good about the sins that you committed and you may feel lousy about what you did; your sins are forgiven on the basis of the cross, not on the basis of how you feel. This is true for initial and positional sanctification (salvation); this is true for ultimate sanctification (when we spend eternity with God) and this is true for temporal sanctification. In other words, God does not require you to work up some guilt in order for you to name your sin to Him. God is not expecting you to feel badly in order to name your sin to Him. God is not expecting you to promise Him that you will never commit this sin again. The basis for our forgiveness is that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross.

Now, when you discipline your own children—you may want them to feel badly about what they have done. You may want them to recognize how their sins have affected others and teach them to stand in the place of the person that they have wronged. What you want is obedience to your authority and you want them to commit as few sins as possible, so that their lives will be better. You want them to learn some self-control, so you teach them about sins in a number of different ways.

However, our relationship to God is different. God the Father is our Father, but that is an analogous situation. Again, our sins are forgiven only because Jesus paid for these sins on the cross. We are forgiven temporally because we admit these sins to God. In v. 5, we will cover Confession of Sin in the Old Testament point by point.

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Divine Discipline is Upon David

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Because I was silent my bones grew old; whilst I cried out all the day long.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        When I was silent, wasted away my bones in my cry all the day.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Because I suffered in silence all the day long, my bones waxed old during my deep slumber.

Septuagint (Greek)                Because I kept silence, my bones waxed old, from my crying all the day.

Significant differences:           This is the first verse in which we have some serious disagreements. We have I suffered in, in the English translation from the Syriac; this is not found in the Hebrew. The Greek verb is not too different from the Hebrew verb. However, the final preposition in the Greek is from, away from; which is not the normal translation of a bêyth preposition. At the end of the Syriac, we have deep slumber, which I have no idea what that is all about.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Before I confessed my sins, my bones felt limp, and I groaned all day long.

Easy English (Churchyard)    When I said nothing my bones became weak and I cried all day long.

Easy-to-Read Version            God, I prayed to you again and again,

but I did not talk {about my secret sins}.

I only became weaker every time I prayed.

Good News Bible (TEV)         When I did not confess my sins, I was worn out from crying all day long.

The Message                         When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.

New Century Version             When I kept things to myself,

I felt weak deep inside me.

I moaned all day long.

New Life Bible                        When I kept quiet about my sin, my bones wasted away from crying all day long.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          I've become quiet as my bones have grown older; I no longer call out all day long.

Ancient Roots Translinear      When I silenced, my bones deteriorated and I roared all the day.

God’s Word™                         When I kept silent about my sins, my bones began to weaken because of my groaning all day long.

New American Bible              Because I kept silent [did not confess the sin before God], my bones wasted away;

I groaned all day long.

Revised English Bible            While I refused to speak, my body wasted away with day-long moaning.

Today’s NIV                          When I kept silent,

my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             When I kept my mouth shut, my bones were wasted, because of my crying all through the day.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               As long as I said nothing,

my limbs wasted away

from my anguished roaring all day long.

NET Bible®                             When I refused to confess my sin [Heb "when I was silent."],

my whole body wasted away [Heb "my bones became brittle." The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.],

while I groaned in pain all day long.

The Scriptures 1998              When I kept silent, my bones became old Through my groaning all the day.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.

Concordant Literal Version    When I kept silent toward You, my bones became worn out With my roaring the entire day."

English Standard Version      For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

LTHB                                     When I kept silence, then my bones became old, through my howling all day.

NRSV                                     While I kept silence, my body wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

Syndein                                  When I was caused to keep silent {about my sins} {failure to rebound}, my body/bones 'wasted away'/'was worn out by use'/'waxed old' through my groaning all the day long. {sh@agah - literally the 'roaring' like of a lion' - internal distress}.

Young's Literal Translation     When I have kept silence, become old have my bones, Through my roaring all the day.

The gist of this verse:          While David remained silent before God by not confessing his sins to God, his bones wasted away and he cried all day in pain.

Translation: Because I was silent, my bones wasted away... There are things in the narrative of 2Sam. 12 that we are not told. David, while out of fellowship, also suffered physical ailments. Here, he felt as if his bones were wasting away. My guess is, he simply felt extremely weak and sickly. If this was not the case, then Psalm 32 was written at a different time in his life, where he had sinned and remained out of fellowship for a long time. He was now in intensive discipline.

The reason for this sickness is, he kept silent. Now, keeping silent will be contrasted with him crying in distress all day long. How are you silent and, at the same time, you cry in great distress? Being silent refers to David’s communication with God. David did not go to God and confess, “I lusted after this woman, so I had her brought to me and I took her. Then, when I found out that she was pregnant, I first tried to bamboozle her noble husband, and, when he did not fall for that, I had her husband killed.” (assuming that this psalm was written in association with his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite). There was a period of time, after David had sex with Bathsheba that he then got conspiratorial against her husband. He tried to get him to go home, during a time of war, and have sex with his wife, which was outside of his personal standards. So, Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, did not go along with David’s request. So David got him drunk to see if he would be enticed to go see his wife. That did not work. So David then had this honorable man carry the order to General Joab that would result in his death. All of this took a period of a month or two. Bathsheba had to recognize that she was pregnant, tell David, and then David had to spring into action. All of this took time. During that time, David was silent before God, but God was beginning to exert pressure on David to get him to confess his sin.

We know that this silence has to do with the confession of sin, as David will acknowledge his sin to God in v. 5.

Translation: ...in my cry all the day. This final phrase is an extension of what has come before. The entire verse reads: Because I was silent, my bones wasted away in my cry all the day. David is crying all the day from physical pain because his bones are wasting away, but, he is silent. The idea is, he is silent with regards to confession of sin. However, David is making a great deal of noise by crying all the day—his vocal cords still work—but he is not naming his sins to God as he ought.

Note how there seems to be an apparent contradiction here: Because David is silent....my cry all the day. David’s silence is with regards to naming his sins to God. For this reason, his body is wasting away and he cries in pain all day long. The idea here is to get our attention. It is to make us recognize the apparent contradiction and then to think about it.

All the day simply means that this continued without intermission.

There are other psalms with a similar theme, also by David. Psalm 6:1–2 O LORD, rebuke me not in Your anger, nor discipline me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Jehovah, for I am languishing; heal me, O Jehovah, for my bones are troubled. Psalm 31:9–10 Be gracious to me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. Psalm 38:1–5 O Jehovah, rebuke me not in Your anger, nor discipline me in Your wrath! For Your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness. All of these psalms sound like intensive discipline to me.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my anguish, while the thorn is fastened.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        For day and night heavy upon me Your hand; was overthrown my juice in a heat of summer. Selah!

Peshitta (Syriac)                    For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; intense pain developed in my heart great enough to kill me.

Septuagint (Greek)                For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; I became thoroughly miserable while a thorn was fastened in me. Pause.

Significant differences:           These 4 languages are in synch in the first verse. There is nearly nothing in common in the second phrase in these 4 languages. Most of the translation below go along with the Hebrew.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Night and day your hand weighed heavily on me, and my strength was gone as in the summer heat.

Easy-to-Read Version            God, you made life harder and harder on me, day and night.

I became like a dry, dry land in the hot summertime.

(SELAH [This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here.])

Good News Bible (TEV)         Day and night you punished me, LORD; my strength was completely drained, as moisture is dried up by the summer heat.

The Message                         The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.

New Century Version             Day and night you punished me.

My strength was gone as in the summer heat.

Selah

New Living Translation           Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.

My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.

Interlude

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          For, Your hand pressed upon me both day and night, and in misery I writhed as though stabbed by a thorn.

Ancient Roots Translinear      For daytime and night your hand is-heavy over me. transforming me as the linseed in the drought of summer. Selah.

New American Bible              For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength withered as in dry summer heat.

Selah

NIRV                                      Day and night

your heavy hand punished me.

I became weaker and weaker

as I do in the heat of summer.

Selah

New Jerusalem Bible             ...day and night your hand lay heavy upon me; my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought. Pause.

Revised English Bible            For day and night

your hand was heavy upon me;

the sap in me dried up as in summer drought.

[Selah

New Simplified Bible              Day and night your hand lay heavily on me. My strength drained in the summer heat.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. Selah.

JPS (Tanakh—1917)               For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my sap was turned as in the droughts of summer. Selah

NET Bible®                             For day and night you tormented me [Heb "your hand was heavy upon me."];

you tried to destroy me [Heb "my [?] was turned." The meaning of the Hebrew term לַשַד (lashad) is uncertain. A noun לִשַד (lashad, "cake") is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לִשֻדִּי (lîshuddiy, "to my destruction") and understand "your hand" as the subject of the verb "was turned." In this case the text reads, "[your hand] was turned to my destruction." In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God's "hand" was "turned" (הַפַ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense. sn You tried to destroy me. The psalmist's statemen] in the intense heat [The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, "in the times of drought."] of summer [Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.]. (Selah)

New Advent Bible                  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Concordant Literal Version    For by day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me; My freshness was turned into the droughts of summer. Interlude”

A Conservative Version         For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture was changed [as] with the drought of summer. Selah.

Context Group Version          For day and night your hand was heavy on me: My moisture was changed in the drought of summer. Selah.

English Standard Version      For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

LTHB                                     For by day and by night Your hand was heavy on me; my sap was turned into the droughts of summer. Selah.

NASB                                     For day and night Your hand [1 Sam 5:6; Job 23:2; 33:7; Ps 38:2; 39:10] was heavy upon me;

My vitality [Lit life juices were turned into the drought of summer] [Psalm 22:15] was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.

Selah [Selah may mean: Pause, Crescendo or Musical interlude].

New King James Version       For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah

Syndein                                  For day and night Your hand kept on being heavy upon me {idiom for divine discipline for sin}. My vitality {literally 'bodily fluids'/moisture (l@shad)} was drained away {literally 'became like the drought of summer'}. Selah {Selah means singers rest and instruments play on - it is a picture of you resting while the Grace of God continues on}.

Updated Bible Version 2.11   For day and night your hand was heavy on me: My moisture was changed in the drought of summer. Selah.

WEB                                      For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.

Young’s Updated LT             When by day and by night Your hand is heavy upon me, My moisture has been changed Into the droughts of summer. Selah.

The gist of this verse:          David was under severe discipline for his sin.

Translation: For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me;... Something which we are unaware of in the narrative of 2Sam. 12 is, David was placed under severe physical discipline for what he did. This is, of course, assuming, that this psalm was written for this particular sin. David committed other sins, some of which are recorded and some of which are not. This psalm could have been written after any sin where David was under intense discipline. However, in any case, I don’t know that we have the physical ailments of this psalm described in Samuel or Chronicles either.

Quite obviously, God does not have hands. This is an anthropopathism which simply indicates that God is closely involved with David and his life, putting pressure upon him because of his sins.

David is praying to God. He is praying after being restored to fellowship—that is, at the time that David wrote this psalm, he had been restored to fellowship and he was looking back at the incident. While out of fellowship, God’s hand was heavy upon David. David, in this verse, recognizes that this is God’s hand upon him.

Several psalms make the same observation. Psalm 38:2–3 For Your arrows have sunk into me, and Your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. Psalm 39:9–11 I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is You who have done it. Remove Your wound [disease, stroke] from me; I am spent by the hostility of Your hand. When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! We find God’s hand mentioned in narrative as well: 1Sam. 5:6–11 The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god." So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" They answered, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath." So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people." They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people." For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 1Sam. 6:8–9 And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to Him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is He who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence."

Translation: ...my vigor was overthrown in the heat of the summer. We may be unsure of the full meaning here, simply because there are so many different ancient translations at this point. However, this translation seems to be more inline with the context of the previous half verse, which is not in dispute.

What is vital to the physical well-being of a person is fluids. When a person is brought into a hospital ill, injured, or whatever, one of the first things they check for is the hydration of the body and is it normal. If not, the person is dehydrated as a part of their repair. David using fairly unscientific language describes this condition of dehydration, which is a part of God’s discipline to him. The vital moisture of his body was changed [for the worst] by the heat of summer.

It is possible that we are speaking of a literal heat of summer, which is sapping away David’s strength during this illness; or this may simply refer to David carrying a very high temperature.

Vv. 3–4 together read: Because I was silent, my bones wasted away in my cry all the day. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me; my vigor [moisture; bodily fluids] was overthrown [changed] in [by] the heat of the summer [possibly, a very nigh temperature]. David describes intensive discipline which is resulting in great physical torment, which continues day and night.

Translation: [Musical] Pause [or, musical interlude; lit., Selah!] As described in the exegesis, this word çelâh comes from a verb which means to lift up. It is reasonable to assume that those who are playing musical instruments are to lift up these instruments and play during a pause in the singing. I believe that this is called the bridge in modern music? Keil and Delitzsch suggest: The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous; it gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God; and the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought to a close.

Here, David leaves us hanging, recognizing and thinking about the great physical torment which he was enduring. Our minds are supposed to sort out the dichotomy of v. 3, where David is both silent and crying all day long. While the music plays, we are to be thinking about the words of this psalm. The music might even become loud at this point, to indicate the great suffering that David is enduring.

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Confession of Sin

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          I have acknowledged my sin to You, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against my self my injustice to the Lord: and You have forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        My sin I have caused You to know;

and my iniquity I have not covered.

I have said, ‘I will confess upon my violation to You, Y^ehowah;’ and You have lifted up iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    I have acknowledged my sin unto You, and my iniquity have I not hid from You. I said, I will confess my faults to the LORD; and You forgavest all of my sins.

Septuagint (Greek)                I acknowledged my sin, and hid not my iniquity; I said, I will confess my iniquity to the Lord; and You forgave the ungodliness of my heart. Pause.

Significant differences:           Caused to know is probably a more accurate translation than acknowledge. The final verb is to lift up (and carry away); rather than to forgive.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       So I confessed my sins and told them all to you. I said, "I'll tell the LORD each one of my sins." Then you forgave me and took away my guilt.

Easy English (Churchyard)    (Then) I told you about my sin

and I did not hide the bad things that I had done.

I said, "I will show my disobedience to the LORD".

You forgave the bad things that I had done in my disobedience. SELAH.

Easy-to-Read Version            But then I decided to confess all my sins to the Lord.

Lord, I told you about my sins.

I did not hide any of my guilt.

And you forgave me for all my sins!

(SELAH [This word is for the musicians. It probably means the singers should pause here or the music should be louder here.]).

Good News Bible (TEV)         Then I confessed my sins to you; I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins.

The Message                         Then I let it all out; I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD." Suddenly the pressure was gone-- my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.

New Living Translation           Finally, I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord."

And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

Interlude

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          I've admitted to You all my lawless deeds, and my sins I've not tried to hide. I said, 'I'll openly declared to Jehovah, all of my lawless ways,' and then You forgave my Godless heart.

Ancient Roots Translinear      You know my sin, and I never covered my iniquity. I said, "I will acknowledge my transgressions toward Yahweh": lift the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Revised English Bible            When I acknowledged my sin to you,

when I no longer concealed my guilt,

but said, ‘I shall confess my offence to the Lord,

then you for your part remitted the penalty of my sin.

[Selah

New Simplified Bible              I confessed my sins to you, and I did not cover up my guilt. I decided to confess them to you, O Jehovah. Then you forgave all my sins.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             I made my wrongdoing clear to you, and did not keep back my sin. I said, I will put it all before the Lord; and you took away my wrongdoing and my sin. Selah.

HCSB                                     Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You took away the guilt of my sin. Selah.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               Then I acknowledged my sin to You;

I did not cover up my built;

I resolved,”I will confess my transgression to the Lord.”

Selah

NET Bible®                             Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, "I will confess [The Hiphil of yâdaʿ (יָדַע) normally means "give thanks, praise," but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means "confess."] my rebellious acts to the LORD."

And then you forgave my sins [Heb "the wrongdoing of my sin." By joining synonyms for "sin" in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.]. (Selah)

New Advent Bible                  I have acknowledged my sin to you, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against my self my injustice to the Lord: and you have forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

The Scriptures 1998              I acknowledged my sin to You, And my crookedness I did not hide. I have said, “I confess my transgressions to יהוה,” And You forgave the crookedness of my sin. Selah.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]--then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

A Conservative Version         I am now acknowledging my sin to You, And I do not cover over my depravity. I said, I shall confess against myself my transgressions to Yahweh, And You, You lift away the depravity of my sin. Interlude"

Context Group Version          I acknowledged my disgrace to you, And my iniquity I did not hide: I said, I will confess my transgressions to YHWH; And you forgave the iniquity of my disgrace. Selah.

LTHB                                      I confessed my sin to You, and I have not hidden my iniquity; I said, I will confess over my transgression to Jehovah; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah..

NASB                                     I acknowledged [Lev 26:40] my sin to You,

And my iniquity I did [Job 31:33] not hide;

I said, "I will confess [Ps 38:18; Prov 28:13; 1 John 1:9] my transgressions to the LORD";

And You forgave [Ps 103:12] the guilt [Or iniquity] of my sin.

Selah.

Syndein                                  I keep on being caused to acknowledge {'yada} my sin {chatta'ah} unto You, and my iniquity I did not hid. I said, " I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah/God." Therefore, You forgave the guilt/'consequence of iniquity' of my sin. Selah {Selah means singers rest and instruments play on - it is a picture of you resting while the Grace of God continues on}.

Young’s Updated LT             My sin I cause You to know, And my iniquity I have not covered. I have said, “I confess concerning My transgressions to Jehovah,” And You—You have taken away the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

The gist of this verse:          David confesses his sin to God and God lifts up the guilt of David’s sin. .

Translation: I caused You to know my sin... It takes us 7 words to adequately translate the 2 Hebrew words above. At this point, David makes his sin known to God. In the Old and New Testaments, temporal fellowship is renewed by naming one’s sins to God.

I caused You to know my sin... This is in direct contrast to v. 3, which reads: For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. David had the simple choice, as one who has believed in Jehovah Elohim, as one who has sinned against God, to either continue to maintain his silence or to cause God to know his sin. Today, we understand fully what is going on. Jesus Christ died for our sins; He took upon Himself our sins; He bore our sins in His body on the cross (1Peter 2:24a). When we name our sins to God, we are restored to fellowship, not because we have done some great thing that impressed God, or not because we have agonized and promised to God that we will never commit these sins again, but because we recognize before Him what we have done. The forgiveness of our sins was taken care of on the cross; naming our sins to Him is the method by which we are restored to fellowship; something which is true in both the Old and New Testaments. These are the mechanics which God has defined and we can either choose to obey Him and use the mechanics He has defined; or we can go our own way, making up the Christian way of life as we go along. If we have believed in Jesus Christ, we will eventually end up in heaven, but it could be a bumpy ride which takes us there (refer back to the Stages of Discipline).

Translation: ...and I have not covered over my iniquity. David did not try to hide his iniquity from God. He did not try to cover it over. He did not try to hide it himself. He did not try to rationalize what he did.

Barnes, speaking for David: I did not attempt then to hide it. I made a frank, a full confession. I stated it all, without any attempt to conceal it; to apologise for it; to defend it. before, he had endeavored to conceal it, and it was crushing him to the earth. He now resolved to confess it all, and he found relief.

When you have sinned, God’s mechanic for getting back into fellowship is to name these sins to God. The basis for this forgiveness is what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. The basis for our forgiveness is not some emotion which we genuinely feel or manage to work up.

There is obviously anguish and pain associated with this sin, but that is because God is pouring the discipline upon David. God is making David feel lousy, physically. He is being sapped of his fluids and he appears to be running a high fever. This is not because David feels badly about the sins he has committed; he may or he may not. However, the pain and suffering he feels is clearly inflicted upon him by God. If David feels any personal anguish or guilt, it is not mentioned in this psalm.

Translation: I said, ‘I will confess my violation to You, Y^ehowah;’... David came to himself and realized that he must confess what he did to Jehovah God. Notice that he does not run around and find relatives of Uriah the Hittite, the man he killed, and apologize to them (again, I am assuming that this took place during the Uriah/Bathsheba incident). When a believer does something wrong, it is a sin against God (Psalm 51:4), and he therefore must confess this sin to God.

Application: Whether restitution is necessary depends upon the doctrine in your soul. Confession of your sin to God directly for forgiveness is what restores you to fellowship. You have to decide what you do from here. It is reasonable in some cases to make amends. For instance, you have cheated someone in a business deal and you pay them back; you disrupted or ruined a person’s life because of your sins; it is not unreasonable to try to fix this or to offer a fix to them. However, this is not necessary when it comes to being forgiven by God.

As we have studied, it was Nathan the prophet who helped to bring David to this realization.

Whether this psalm can be tethered to David’s sin regarding Bathsheba and Uriah, we don’t know. However, the principles and the doctrines taught in the psalm are true, either way.