Psalms 51
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 51 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
10 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Psalms 51
1(52) For the end, a Psalm of * instruction by David, when Doec the Idumean came and told Saul, and said to him, David is gone to the house of Abimelech. Why do you, O mighty man, boast of iniquity in your mischief? All the dayΕἰς τὸ τέλος συνέσεως τῷ Δαυὶδ,
2your tongue has devised unrighteousness; like a sharpened razor you have wrought deceit.ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν Δωὴκ τὸν Ἰδουμαῖον, καὶ ἀναγγεῖλαι τῷ Σαοὺλ, καὶ εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ, ἦλθε Δαυὶδ εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ἀβιμέλεχ.
3You have loved wickedness more than goodness; unrighteousness better than to speak righteousness. Pause.Τί ἐγκαυχᾷ ἐν κακίᾳ ὁ δυνατὸς ἀνομίαν; ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν
4You have loved all words of destruction, and a deceitful tongue.ἀδικίαν ἐλογίσατο ἡ γλῶσσά σου· ὡσεὶ ξυρὸν ἠκονημένον ἐποίησας δόλον.
5Therefore may God destroy you for ever, may he pluck you up and utterly remove you from your dwelling, and your root from the land of the living. Pause.Ἠγάπησας κακίαν ὑπὲρ ἀγαθωσύνην, ἀδικίαν ὑπὲρ τὸ λαλῆσαι δικαιοσύνην· διάψαλμα.
6And the righteous shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say,Ἠγάπησας πάντα τὰ ῥήματα καταποντισμοῦ, γλῶσσαν δολίαν.
7Behold the man who made not God his help; but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his vanity.Διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς καθέλοι σε εἰς τέλος, ἐκτίλαι σε καὶ μεταναστεύσαι σε ἀπὸ σκηνώματος, καὶ τὸ ῥίζωμά σου ἐκ γῆς ζώντων· διάψαλμα.
8But I am as a fruitful olive in the house of God: I have trusted in the mercy of God for ever, even for evermore.Καὶ ὄψονται δίκαιοι καὶ φοβηθήσονται, καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν γελάσονται, καὶ ἐροῦσιν,
9I will give thanks to you for ever, for you have done it: and I will wait on your name; for it is good before the saints.ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἔθετο τὸν Θεὸν βοηθὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀλλʼ ἐπήλπισεν ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ πλούτου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνεδυναμώθη ἐπὶ τῇ ματαιότητι αὐτοῦ.
10Ἐγὼ δὲ ὡσεὶ ἐλαία κατάκαρπος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἤλπισα ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.
11Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὅτι ἐποίησας, καὶ ὑπομενῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι χρηστὸν ἐναντίον τῶν ὁσίων σου.
The Fathers on Psalms 51
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 51:1Saint Augustine of Hippo3. “Why doth he glory in malice that is mighty?” (ver. 1). Observe, my brethren, the glorying of malignity, the glorying of evil men. Where is glorying? “Why doth he glory in malice that is mighty?” That is, he that in malice is mighty, why doth he glory? There is need that a man be mighty, but in goodness, not in malice. Is it any great thing to glory in malice? To build a house doth belong to few men, any…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:2Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “In iniquity the whole day upon injustice hath thy tongue thought” (ver. 2): that is, in the whole of time, without weariness, without intermission, without cessation. And when thou doest not, thou thinkest; so that when anything of evil is away from thy hands, from thy heart it is not away; either thou doest an evil thing, or while thou canst not do, thou sayest an evil thing, that is, thou evil-speakest: or…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:2Saint Augustine of Hippo5. There followeth then what? All thy might and all thy thought of iniquity all the day, and meditation of malignity in thy tongue without intermission, hath performed what, done what? “As with a sharp razor thou hast done deceit” (ver. 3). See what do evil men to Saints, they scrape their hair. What is it that I have said? If there be such citizens of Jerusalem, that hear the voice of their Lord, of their King,…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:4Saint Augustine of Hippo6. “Thou hast loved malice above benignity” (ver. 4). Before thee was benignity; herself thou shouldest have loved. For thou wast not going to expend anything, nor wast thou going to fetch something to love by a distant voyage. Benignity is before thee, iniquity before thee: compare and choose. But perchance thou hast an eye wherewith thou seest malignity, and hast no eye wherewith thou seest benignity. Woe to…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:4Saint Augustine of Hippo7. Because of this there followeth in the Psalm, “Thou hast loved all words of sinking under” (ver. 5). Rescue therefore thyself, if thou canst, from sinking under. From shipwreck thou art fleeing, and dost embrace lead! If thou wilt not sink, catch at a plank, be borne on wood, let the Cross carry thee through. But now because thou art a Doeg the Edomite, a “motion,” and “of earth,” thou doest what? “Thou hast…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:5Saint Augustine of Hippo8. “Wherefore God shall destroy thee at the end” (ver. 6): though now thou seemest to flourish like grass in the field before the heat of the sun. For, “All flesh is grass, and the brightness of man as the bloom of grass: the grass hath withered, and the bloom hath fallen down: but the word of the Lord abideth for everlasting.” Behold that to which thou mayest bind thyself, to what “abideth for everlasting.” For…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:6Saint Augustine of Hippo9. “And the just shall see, and shall fear; and over him they shall laugh” (ver. 7). Shall fear when? Shall laugh when? Let us therefore understand, and make a distinction between those two times of fearing and laughing, which have their several uses. For so long as we are in this world, not yet must we laugh, lest hereafter we mourn. We have read what is reserved at the end for this Doeg, we have read and…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:7Saint Augustine of Hippo10. But what shall they then say that shall laugh? “And over him they shall laugh; and shall say, Behold a man that hath not set God for his helper” (ver. 8). See ye the body earthly! “As much as thou shalt have, so great shalt thou be,” is a proverb of covetous men, of grasping men, of men oppressing the innocent, of men seizing upon other men’s goods, of men denying things entrusted to their care. Of what sort…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:8Saint Augustine of Hippo11. Therefore that man having been condemned that “hath trusted in the multitude of his riches, and hath prevailed in his vanity:” for what more vain, than he that thinketh coin more to avail than God? Therefore that man having been condemned that said, blessed of the people to whom these things are: thou that sayest, “Blessed the people of whom is the Lord their own God,” dost think of thyself what? dost hope…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 51:9Open Psalms 51 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo12. “I will confess to Thee for ever, because Thou hast done” (ver. 10). “Hast done what?” Doeg Thou hast condemned, David Thou hast crowned. “I will confess to Thee for ever, because Thou hast done.” Great confession, “Because thou hast done”! “Hast done” what? except these very things which above have been spoken of, that like an olive fruit-bearing in the house of God, I should trust in the mercy of God for…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →