properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
truth
אֱ֭מֶת'E.met
H571
stability · noun, common feminine singular absolute
parts
בַטֻּח֑וֹתva.tu.Chot
H2910
(in the plural only) the kidneys (as being covered) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
hidden
וּ֝בְסָתֻ֗םu.ve.sa.Tum
H5640
to stop up · conjunction + preposition + verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
know
תוֹדִיעֵֽנִיto.di.'E.ni
H3045
to know (properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
wisdom
חָכְמָ֥הchokh.mah
H2451
wisdom (in a good sense) · 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
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth…
Psalms 15:2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the s…
Job 38:36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Luke 11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening…
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 51:1-6
The title has reference to a very sad story, that of David's fall. But, though he fell, he was not utterly cast down, for God graciously upheld him and raised him up. 1. The sin which, in this psalm, he laments, was the folly and wickedness he committed with his neighbour's wife, a sin not to be spoken of, nor thought of, without detestation. His debauching of Bathsheba was the inlet to all the other sins that followed; it was as the letting forth of water. This sin of David's is recorded for warning to all, that he who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall. 2. The repentance which, in this psalm, he expresses, he was brought to by the ministry of Nathan, who was sent of God to convinc…
thou shalt make, &c.--may be taken to express God's gracious purpose in view of His strict requisition; a purpose of which David might have availed himself as a check to his native love for sin, and, in not doing so, aggravated his guilt.
truth . . . and . . .wisdom--are terms often used for piety (compare Job 28:28; Psa 119:30).
John Gill on Psalms 51:6
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,.... With delight and pleasure, as the word (d) signifies: meaning either Christ, the truth and the life, formed and dwelling in the hearts of his people; or the Gospel, the word of truth, which has a place there; and particularly that branch of it which proclaims pardon to sensible sinners, and is the ground of hope within them: or else a true and hearty confession of sin, which David now made; or rather internal holiness and purity of heart, in opposition to the corruption of nature before acknowledged: this is what is agreeable to the nature of God, is required by his holy law, and is wrought in the hearts of his people in regeneration; and…
Psalm 51:3-6
3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight; that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5. Behold, I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6. Behold, thou hast desired truth in the inward parts, and hast shown me wisdom in secret.
3. For If know my sins [259] He now discovers his reason for imploring pardon with so much vehemency, and this was the painful disquietude which his sins caused him, and which could only be relieved by his obtaining reconciliation with God. This proves that his prayer did not proceed from dissimu…
The Church Fathers
"For, behold, truth You have loved: uncertain and hidden things of Your wisdom, You have manifested to me" [Psalm 51:6]. That is, You have not left unpunished even the sins of those whom Thou dost pardon. "Truth You have loved:" so mercy You have granted first, as that You should also preserve truth. Thou pardonest one confessing, pardonest, but only if he punishes himself: so there are preserved mercy and truth: mercy because man is set free; truth, because sin is punished. "Uncertain and hidden things of Your wisdom You have manifested to me." What "hidden things"? What "uncertain things"? Because God pardons even such. Nothing is so hidden, nothing so uncertain. For this uncertainty the Ninevites repented, for they said, though after the threatenings of the Prophet, though after that cry, "Three days and Nineve shall be overthrown:" [Jonah 3:4] they said to themselves, Mercy must be implored; they said in this sort reasoning among themselves, "Who knows whether God may turn for the better His sentence, and have pity?" [Jonah 3:9] It was "uncertain," when it is said, "Who knows?" on an uncertainty they did repent, certain mercy they earned: they prostrated them in tears, in fastings, in sackcloth and ashes they prostrated them, groaned, wept, God spared. Nineve stood: was Nineve overthrown? One way indeed it seems to men, and another way it seemed to God. But I think that it was fulfilled that the Prophet had foretold. Regard what Nineve was, and see how it was overthrown; overthrown in evil, built in good; just as Saul the persecutor was overthrown, Paul the preacher built. [Acts 9:4] Who would not say that this city, in which we now are, was happily overthrown, if all those madmen, leaving their triflings, were to run together to the Church with contrite heart, and were to call upon God's mercy for their past doings? Should we not say, Where is that Carthage? Because there is not what there was, it is overthrown: but if there is what there was not, it is built. So is said to Jeremiah, "Behold, I will give to you to root up, to dig under, to overthrow, to destroy," and again, "to build, and to plant." [Jeremiah 1:10] Thence is that voice of the Lord, "I will smite and I will heal." [Deuteronomy 32:39] He smites the rottenness of the deed, He heals the pain of the wound. Physicians do thus when they cut; they smite and heal; they arm themselves in order…
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
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Homicide · DAVID’S REPENTANCE FOR, AND CONFESSION OF, THE MUR — DAVID’S REPENTANCE FOR, AND CONFESSION OF, THE MUR
Law Of God, The · Requires obedience of the heart — Requires obedience of the heart
Spirituality · General references — General references
Truth · God desires in the heart — God desires in the heart
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).
David here confesses his hereditary sin as the root of his actual sin. The declaration moves backwards from his birth to conception, it consequently penetrates even to the most remote point of life's beginning. חוללתּי stands instead of נולדתּי, perhaps (although elsewhere, i.e., in Psa 90:2, the idea of painfulness is kept entirely in the background) with reference to the decree, "with pain shalt thou bring forth children," Gen 3:16 (Kurtz); instead of הרתה אתי, with still more definite reference to that which precedes conception, the expression is יחמתני (for יחמתני, following the same interchange of vowel as in Gen 30:39; Jdg 5:28). The choice of the verb decides the question whether by ע…
I was born a sinner: The psalmist is not making excuses but is acknowledging the depth of his sinfulness. From the time we are conceived, we all share in the human condition of sinfulness.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 51:6
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Behold. Here is the great matter for consideration. God desires not merely outward virtue, but inward purity, and the penitent's sense of sin is greatly deepened as with astonishment he discovers this truth, and how far he is from satisfying the divine demand. The second "Behold" is fitly set over against the first; how great the gulf which yawns between them! Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Reality, sincerity, true holiness, heart fidelity, these are the demands of God. He cares not for the pretence of purity, he looks to the mind, heart, and soul. Always has the Holy One of…
