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For small groups · 10 questions

Psalm 51 Bible study questions

David’s prayer after his sin with Bathsheba: a plea for mercy, a clean heart, and a renewed spirit.

Read Psalm 51

Read the chapter aloud first. Then take the questions in order: what it says, what it means, what to do. About 45 minutes. Skip any question that doesn’t fit your group.

Start here

  1. How do you usually feel after you have said sorry to someone?

Look: what does it say?

  1. What does David ask God to do with his sin? List the verbs.Psalm 51:1-2,7-9
  2. What does David ask God to create and renew in him?Psalm 51:10-12
  3. What sacrifice does David say God wants?Psalm 51:16-17

Understand: what does it mean?

  1. David says he sinned against God alone, though he hurt others badly. What does he mean?Psalm 51:4
  2. Why does David ask for a new heart, and not only for forgiveness?Psalm 51:10
  3. What does a broken and humble heart look like?Psalm 51:17

Live it: what will we do?

  1. Is there something you need to bring to God and stop hiding?Psalm 51:3
  2. David asks God to bring back the gladness of being saved. What would that look like for you?Psalm 51:12
  3. David says forgiven people teach others God’s ways. How could your story help someone?Psalm 51:13

Close in prayer

Pray verse 10 quietly, each person on their own, then thank God for mercy.

Psalm 51

Lumin Translation. It prints after the questions, so the group has the words in front of them.

For the choir director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had slept with Bathsheba.

1 Be gracious to me, God, in keeping with your steadfast love; in keeping with your great compassion, wipe out my transgressions.

2 Wash my guilt away from me thoroughly, and purify me from my sin.

3 For I myself recognize my transgressions, and my sin is constantly in front of me.

4 It is against you alone that I have sinned, and what is evil in your eyes I have done, so that you are right when you speak and blameless when you judge.

5 Surely I was born in guilt, and in sin my mother conceived me.

6 Surely what you desire is truth deep within; in the hidden place you teach me wisdom.

7 Cleanse me from sin with hyssop, and I will be pure; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let joy and gladness sound in my ears; let the bones you shattered rejoice.

9 Turn your face away from my sins, and wipe out all my guilty deeds.

10 God, create a clean heart for me, and renew a steadfast spirit inside me.

11 Do not drive me from your presence, and do not withdraw your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Bring back to me the gladness of your salvation, and hold me up with a generous spirit.

13 I will teach your ways to those who transgress, and sinners will turn back to you.

14 God, God of my salvation, rescue me from bloodguilt, and my tongue will joyfully sing your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips, so that my mouth may make your praise known.

16 For you have no desire for sacrifice, or I would give it; burnt offering does not please you.

17 God’s sacrifices are a broken spirit; a heart broken and crushed, God, you will not scorn.

18 As it pleases you, show Zion your goodness; build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will take pleasure in sacrifices that are right, in burnt offering and whole offering; then bulls will go up on your altar.

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

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