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Selected Verse: Psalms 51:10 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 51:10 |
King James |
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Create--a work of almighty power.
in me--literally, "to me," or, "for me"; bestow as a gift, a heart free from taint of sin (Psa 24:4; Psa 73:1).
renew--implies that he had possessed it; the essential principle of a new nature had not been lost, but its influence interrupted (Luk 22:32); for Psa 51:11 shows that he had not lost God's presence and Spirit (Sa1 16:13), though he had lost the "joy of his salvation" (Psa 51:12), for whose return he prays.
right spirit--literally, "constant," "firm," not yielding to temptation. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Create in me a clean heart, O God - The word rendered "create," ברא berâ' - is a word which is properly employed to denote an act of "creation;" that is, of causing something to exist where there was nothing before. It is the word which is used in Gen 1:1 : "In the beginning God "created" the heaven and the earth," and which is commonly used to express the act of creation. It is used "here" evidently in the sense of causing that to exist which did not exist before; and there is clearly a recognition of the divine "power," or a feeling on the part of David that this could be done by God alone. The idea is, however, not that a new "substance" might be brought into being to which the name "a clean heart" might be given, but that he might "have" a clean heart; that his heart might be made pure; that his affections and feelings might be made right; that he might have what he was conscious that he did "not" now possess - a clean or a pure heart. This, he felt, could be produced only by the power of God; and the passage, therefore, proves that it is a doctrine of the Old Testament, as it is of the New, that the human heart is changed only by a divine agency.
And renew a right spirit within me - Margin, "a constant spirit." The Hebrew word - נכון nākûn - means properly, that which is "erect," or that which is made to stand up, or which is firm or established. It is used to denote
(a) that which is upright, right, proper: Exo 8:26; Job 42:8; Psa 5:9;
(b) that which is right, true, sincere, Psa 78:37;
(c) that which is firm, constant, fixed.
This would seem to be the meaning here. He prays for a heart that would be firm in the purposes of virtue; that would not yield to temptation; that would carry out holy resolutions; that would be stedfast in the service of God. The word "renew" here means to be or to make new; to produce something new. It is also used in the sense of making anew, as applied to buildings or cities in the sense of "rebuilding" or "repairing" them: Isa 61:4; Ch2 15:8; Ch2 24:4. The word here would naturally convey the idea that there had been formerly a right and proper spirit in him, which he prayed might now be restored. The language is that of one who had done right formerly, but who had fallen into sin, and who desired that he might be brought back into his former condition. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| In the second part, the prayer for justification is followed by the prayer for renewing. A clean heart that is not beclouded by sin and a consciousness of sin (for לב includes the conscience, Psychology, S. 134; tr. p. 160); a stedfast spirit (נכון, cf. Psa 78:37; Psa 112:7) is a spirit certain respecting his state of favour and well-grounded in it. David's prayer has reference to the very same thing that is promised by the prophets as a future work of salvation wrought by God the Redeemer on His people (Jer 24:7; Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26); it has reference to those spiritual facts of experience which, it is true, could be experienced even under the Old Testament relatively and anticipatively, but to the actual realization of which the New Testament history, fulfilling ancient prophecy has first of all produced effectual and comprehensive grounds and motives, viz., μετάνοια (לב = νοῦς), καινὴ κτίσις, παλιγγενεσία καὶ ἀνακαὶνωσις πνεῦματος (Tit 3:5). David, without distinguishing between them, thinks of himself as king, as Israelite, and as man. Consequently we are not at liberty to say that רוּח הקּדשׁ (as in Isa 63:16), πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης = ἅγιον, is here the Spirit of grace in distinction from the Spirit of office. If Jahve should reject David as He rejected Saul, this would be the extreme manifestation of anger (Kg2 24:20) towards him as king and as a man at the same time. The Holy Spirit is none other than that which came upon him by means of the anointing, Sa1 16:13. This Spirit, by sin, he has grieved and forfeited. Hence he prays God to show favour rather than execute His right, and not to take this His Holy Spirit from him. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Create - Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away. Right - Heb. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable. Spirit - Temper or disposition of soul. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Create in me a clean heart - Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted; it must be new made, made as it was in the beginning. This is exactly the sentiment of St. Paul: Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation; and the salvation given under the Gospel dispensation is called a being created anew in Christ Jesus.
A right spirit within me - רוח נכון ruach nachon, a constant, steady, determined spirit; called Psa 51:12, רוח נדיבה ruach nedibah, a noble spirit. a free, generous, princely spirit; cheerfully giving up itself to thee; no longer bound and degraded by the sinfulness of sin. |
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
4 And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.