to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
joy
שְׂשׂ֣וֹןse.Son
H8342
cheerfulness · noun, common masculine singular construct
salvation
יִשְׁעֶ֑ךָyish.'E.kha
H3468
liberty · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
uphold
תִסְמְכֵֽנִיtis.me.Khe.ni
H5564
to prop (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix
free
נְדִיבָ֣הne.di.Vah
H5081
properly · adjective, feminine singular absolute
spirit
וְר֖וּחַve.Ru.ach
H7307
wind · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee…
Psalms 13:5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covere…
Luke 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Psalms 119:116-117 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
Psalms 35:9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 51:7-13
I. See here what David prays for. Many excellent petitions he here puts up, to which if we do but add, "for Christ's sake," they are as evangelical as any other.
1. He prays that God would cleanse him from his sins and the defilement he had contracted by them (Psa 51:7): "Purge me with hyssop; that is, pardon my sins, and let me know that they are pardoned, that I may be restored to those privileges which by sin I have forfeited and lost." The expression here alludes to a ceremonial distinction, that of cleansing the leper, or those that were unclean by the touch of a body by sprinkling water, or blood, or both upon them with a bunch of hyssop, by which they were, at length, discharged from…
free spirit--"thy" ought not to be supplied, for the word "free" is, literally, "willing," and "spirit" is that of David. "Let a willing spirit uphold me," that is, with a soul willingly conformed to God's law, he would be preserved in a right course of conduct.
John Gill on Psalms 51:12
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,.... Not temporal, but spiritual and eternal; and designs either Christ himself, who is God's salvation, of his appointing and providing, in the view of whom, as such, David had much spiritual joy; or the salvation he was to work out, which God the Father had contrived the scheme of in him, had covenanted with him to do, and had appointed his people to: salvation itself is a sure thing, and can never fail, being founded upon the purpose and counsel of God, which shall ever stand; and is secured in the covenant of grace, which can never be removed; and is now completely wrought out by Christ, and is applied by his Spirit to the heirs of it, who shall c…
Psalm 51:10-12
10. Create in me a clean heart, O God! and renew a right spirit [268] in my inward parts. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the Spirit of thy holiness from me. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a free spirit.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God! In the previous part of the psalm David has been praying for pardon. He now requests that the grace of the Spirit, which he had forfeited, or deserved to have forfeited, might be restored to him. The two requests are quite distinct, though sometimes confounded together, even by men of learning. He passes from the subject of the gratuitous remission of sin to that of sanctification. A…
The Church Fathers
"The one who says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has been truly perfected. By this we know that we are in him; he who says that he abides in him ought himself also to walk as he walked." My reason for telling you, little children, that everyone who is born of God does not sin, is that you should not sin and that you should know that as long as you do not sin you abide in the birth that God has given you. Truly, they who abide in that birth cannot sin. "For what does light have in common with darkness? Or Christ with Belial?" As day is distinct from night, so righteousness and unrighteousness, sin and good works, Christ and Antichrist cannot blend. If we give Christ a lodging place in our hearts, we banish the devil therefrom. If we sin and the devil enters through the gate of sin, Christ will immediately withdraw. Hence David after sinning says, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation," that is, the joy that he had lost by sinning.
"Give back to me the exultation of Your salvation" [Psalm 51:12]. "Give back" what I had; what by sinning I had lost: to wit, of Your Christ. For who without Him can be made whole? Because even before that He was Son of Mary, "In the beginning He was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" [John 1:1] and so, by the holy fathers a future dispensation of flesh taken upon Him, was looked for; as is believed by us to have been done. Times are changed, not faith. "And with Principal Spirit confirm me." Some have here understood the Trinity in God, Itself God; the dispensation of Flesh being excepted therefrom: since it is written, "God is a Spirit." [John 4:24] For that which is not body, and yet is, seems to exist in such sort as that it is spirit. Therefore some understand here the Trinity spoken of: "In upright Spirit," the Son; in "Holy Spirit," Holy Ghost; in "Principal Spirit," Father. It is not any heretical opinion, therefore, whether this be so, or whether "upright Spirit" He would have to be taken of man himself (when He says, "An upright spirit renew in my inner parts"), which I have bowed and distorted by sinning, so that in that case the Holy Spirit be Himself the Principal Spirit: which also he would not have to be taken away from him, and thereby would have himself to be confirmed therein.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Heart — According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. “Heart” and “soul” are often used interchangeably (Deut. 6:5; 26:16; comp.…
Affliction, Prayer Under · For restoration to joy — For restoration to joy
Conscience · GUILTY — GUILTY
Conviction · OF SIN — OF SIN
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Holy Spirit · 31:3;35:31; — 31:3;35:31;
Homicide · DAVID’S REPENTANCE FOR, AND CONFESSION OF, THE MUR — DAVID’S REPENTANCE FOR, AND CONFESSION OF, THE MUR
Joy · Pray for restoration of — Pray for restoration of
Power Of The Holy Spirit, The · Saints: Upheld by — Saints: Upheld by
Remorse · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Salvation · Saints: Pray for a joyful sense of — Saints: Pray for a joyful sense of
Titles And Names Of The Holy Spirit · Free Spirit — Free Spirit
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
In connection with רוּח נדיבה, the old expositors thought of נדיב, a noble, a prince, and נדיבה, nobility, high rank, Job 30:15, lxx πνεύματι ἡγεμονικῷ (spiritu principali) στήριξόν με, - the word has, however, without any doubt, its ethical sense in this passage, Isa 32:8, cf. נדבה, Ps. 54:8; and the relation of the two words רוח נדיבה is not to be taken as adjectival, but genitival, since the poet has just used רוח in the same personal sense in Psa 51:12. Nor are they to be taken as a nominative of the subject, but - what corresponds more closely to the connection of the prayer - according to Gen 27:37, as a second accusative of the object: with a spirit of willingness, of willing, n…
your Holy Spirit: Only the power of the Holy Spirit can change the human will to make it “loyal” (51:10) and “willing to obey” (51:12).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 51:12
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Salvation he had known, and had known it as the Lord's own; he had also felt the joy which arises from being saved in the Lord, but he had lost it for a while, and therefore he longed for its restoration. None but God can give back this joy; he can do it; we may ask it; he will do it for his own glory and our benefit. This joy comes not first, but follows pardon and purity: in such order it is safe, in any other it is vain presumption or idiotic delirium. And uphold me with thy free Spirit. Conscious of weakness, mindful of having so lately fallen, he seeks to be kept on h…
