CALVI1, “David having largely and painfully experienced what a miserable thing it is to feel God’s hand heavy on account of sin, exclaims that the highest and best part of a happy life consists in this, that God forgives a man’s guilt, and receives him graciously into his favor. After giving thanks for pardon obtained, he invites others to fellowship with him in his happiness, showing, by his own example, the means by which this may be obtained.

1. PSALM 32
Edited by Glenn Pease
Of David. A maskil.[a]
PREFACE
I quote both old and new authors in this study, and if any of them does not wish their quotes to be
seen in this study, they can let me know, and I will remove them. My e-mail is
glenn_p86@yahoo.com
I1TRODUCTIO1
1. “David out of his personal experience of being guilty of adultery tells us of the consequences
and how he handled it. Sex sins tend to lead to the greatest guilt, and, therefore, this is one of the
most practical Psalms, and many need this counseling for this is one of the most devastating to
the mind. It leads to a great deal of mental illness.
The question arises-do you think the whole concept of forgiveness is itself a farce that encourages
sin or does it detour from the sin? In other words, is it wise to focus on forgiveness with those
who have not fallen, or should the force be on judgment to keep fear before the innocent? Heb.
13:4. Is it good psychology to tell a sinner he can be forgiven before he sins?
I do not think it encourages to sin as if two Christians could plan to have an affair and then
immediately before their conscience goes to work, pray for forgiveness and escape all of the
negative consequences. David knew about God’s forgiveness before he fell. There will be a time
of justifying yourself and a time of guilt no matter what, and the consequences must be endured
even if one is forgiven, so this truth is not a loophole that enables anyone to escape. Its prime
value is that it makes it clear there is only sensible way to deal with guilt, and that is forgiveness.
David learned the hard way and tells of his experience so that others might learn and avoid the
hard way.” author unknown
2. CALVI1, “David having largely and painfully experienced what a miserable thing it is to feel
God’s hand heavy on account of sin, exclaims that the highest and best part of a happy life
consists in this, that God forgives a man’s guilt, and receives him graciously into his favor. After
giving thanks for pardon obtained, he invites others to fellowship with him in his happiness,
showing, by his own example, the means by which this may be obtained.
A Psalm of David giving instruction.
The title of this psalm gives some idea of its subject. Some think that the Hebrew word ,משכיל
maskil, which we have rendered giving instruction, is taken from verse 7, but it is more accurate
to consider it as a title given to the psalm in accordance with its whole scope and subject matter.
David, after enduring long and dreadful torments, when God was severely trying him, by

2. showing him the tokens of his wrath, having at length obtained favor, applies this evidence of the
divine goodness for his own benefit, and the benefit of the whole Church, that from it he may
teach himself and them what constitutes the chief point of salvation. All men must necessarily be
either in miserable torment, or, which is worse, forgetting themselves and God, must continue in
deadly lethargy, until they are persuaded that God is reconciled towards them. Hence David here
teaches us that the happiness of men consists only in the free forgiveness of sins, for nothing can
be more terrible than to have God for our enemy; nor can he be gracious to us in any other way
than by pardoning our transgressions.
3. SPURGEO1, “Title. A Psalm of David, Maschil. That David wrote this gloriously evangelic
Psalm is proved not only by this heading, but by the words of the apostle Paul, in Romans 4:6-8.
"Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works," &c. Probably his deep repentance over his great sin was followed
by such blissful peace, that he was led to pour out his spirit in the soft music of this choice song.
In the order of history it seems to follow the fifty-first. Maschil is a new title to us, and indicates
that this is an instructive or didactic Psalm. The experience of one believer affords rich
instruction to others, it reveals the footsteps of the flock, and so comforts and directs the weak.
Perhaps it was important in this case to prefix the word, that doubting saints might not imagine
the Psalm to be the peculiar utterance of a singular individual, but might appropriate it to
themselves as a lesson from the Spirit of God. David promised in the fifty-first Psalm to teach
transgressors the Lord's ways, and here he does it most effectually. Grotius thinks that this Psalm
was meant to be sung on the annual day of the Jewish expiation, when a general confession of
their sins was made.
Division. In our reading we have found it convenient to note the benediction of the pardoned,
Psalms 32:1-2; David's personal confession, Psalms 32:3-5; and the application of the case to
others, Psalms 32:6-7. The voice of God is heard by the forgiven one in Psalms 32:8-9; and the
Psalm then concludes with a portion for each of the two great classes of men, Ps 32:10-11.
Title. The term Maschil is prefixed to thirteen Psalms. Our translators have not ventured to do
more, in the text, than simply print the word in English characters; in the margin however they
render it, as the Geneva version had done before them, "to give instruction." It would be going
too far to affirm that this interpretation is subject to no doubt. Some good Hebraists take
exception to it; so that, perhaps, our venerable translators did well to leave it untranslated. Still
the interpretation they have set down in the margin, as it is in the most ancient, so it is sustained
by the great preponderance of authority. It agrees remarkably with the contents of the thirty-second
Psalm, which affords the earliest instance of its use, for that Psalm is preeminently
didactic. Its scope is to instruct the convicted soul how to obtain peace with God, and be
compassed about with songs of deliverance. William Binnie, D.D., in "The Psalms: Their History,
Teachings, and Use," 1870.
Whole Psalm. This is a Didactic Psalm, wherein David teacheth sinners to repent by his doctrine,
who taught them to sin by his example. This science is universal and pertaineth to all men, and
which necessarily we must all learn; princes, priests, people, men, women, children, tradesmen;
all, I say, must be put to this school, without which lesson all others are unprofitable. But to the
point. This is a mark of a true penitent, when he hath been a stumbling block to others, to be as
careful to raise them up by his repentance as he was hurtful to them by his sin; and I never think
that man truly penitent who is ashamed to teach sinners repentance by his own particular proof.
The Samaritan woman, when she was converted, left her bucket at the well, entered the city, and
said, "Come forth, yonder is a man who hath told me all that I have done." And our Saviour

3. saith to St. Peter, "When thou art converted, strength thy brethren." John 4:29 Luke 22:32. St.
Paul also after his conversion is not ashamed to call himself chiefest of all sinners, and to teach
others to repent of their sins by repenting for his own. Happy, and thrice happy, is the man who
can build so much as he hath cast down. Archibald Symson.
Whole Psalm. It is told of Luther that one day being asked which of all the Psalms were the best,
he made answer, "Psalmi Paulini," and when his friends pressed to know which these might be,
he said, "The 32nd, the 51st, the 130th, and the 143rd. For they all teach that the forgiveness of
our sins comes, without the law and without works, to the man who believes, and therefore I call
them Pauline Psalms; and David sings, `There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be
feared,' this is just what Paul says, `God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have
mercy upon all.' Romans 11:32. Thus no man may boast of his own righteousness. That word,
`That thou mayest be feared,' dusts away all merit, and teaches us to uncover our heads before
God, and confess gratia est, non meritum: remissio, non satisfactio; it is mere forgiveness, not
merit at all." Luther's Table Talk.
Whole Psalm. Some assert that this Psalm used to be sung on the day of expiation. Robert
Leighton. The Penitential Psalms. When Galileo was imprisoned by the Inquisition at Rome, for
asserting the Copernican System, he was enjoined, as a penance, to repeat the Seven Penitential
Psalms every week for three years. This must have been intended as extorting a sort of confession
from him of his guilt, and acknowledgment of the justice of his sentence; and in which there
certainly was some cleverness and, indeed, humour, however adding to the iniquity (or
foolishness) of the proceeding. Otherwise it is not easy to understand what idea of painfulness or
punishment the good fathers could attach to a devotional exercise such as this, which, in whatever
way, could only have been agreeable and consoling to their prisoner. M. Montague, in "The Seven
Penitential Psalms in Verse ... with an Appendix and 1otes," 1844.
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
1. Barnes, “Blessed is he ... - On the meaning of the word “blessed,” see the notes at Psa_1:1. See
the passage explained in the notes at Rom_4:7-8. The word “blessed” here is equivalent to
“happy.” “Happy is the man;” or “happy is the condition - the state of mind - happy are the
prospects, of one whose sins are forgiven.” His condition is happy or blessed:
(a) as compared with his former state, when he was pressed or bowed down under a sense of
guilt;
(b) in his real condition, as that of a pardoned man - a man who has nothing now to fear as the
result of his guilt, or who feels that he is at peace with God;
(c) in his hopes and prospects, as now a child of God and an heir of heaven.

4. Whose transgression is forgiven - The word rendered “forgiven” means properly to lift up, to
bear, to carry, to carry away; and sin which is forgiven is referred to here “as if” it were borne
away - perhaps as the scapegoat bore off sin into the wilderness. Compare Psa_85:2; Job_7:21;
Gen_50:17; 1um_14:19; Isa_2:9.
Whose sin is covered - As it were “covered over;” that is, concealed or hidden; or, in other
words, so covered that it will not appear. This is the idea in the Hebrew word which is commonly
used to denote the atonement, - כפר kâphar - meaning “to cover over;” then, to overlook, to
forgive; Gen_6:14; Psa_65:3; Psa_78:38; Dan_9:24. The original word here, however, is different
כסה - kâsâh - though meaning the same - “to cover.” The idea is, that the sin would be, as it were,
covered over, hidden, concealed, so that it would no longer come into the view of either God or
man; that is, the offender would be regarded and treated as if he had not sinned, or as if he had
no sin.
2. Clarke, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven - In this and the following verse four
evils are mentioned:
1. Transgression, פשע peshwa.
2. Sin, חטאה chataah.
3. Iniquity, עון avon.
4. Guile, רמיה remiyah.
The first signifies the passing over a boundary, doing what is prohibited. The second signifies the
missing of a mark, not doing what was commanded; but is often taken to express sinfulness, or
sin in the future, producing transgression in the life. The third signifies what is turned out of its
proper course or situation; any thing morally distorted or perverted. Iniquity, what is contrary to
equity or justice. The fourth signifies fraud, deceit, guile, etc. To remove these evils, three acts are
mentioned: forgiving, covering, and not imputing.
1. Transgression, פשע pesha, must be forgiven, נשוי nesui, borne away, i.e., by a vicarious
sacrifice; for bearing sin, or bearing away sin, always implies this.
2. Sin, חטאה chataah, must be covered, כסוי kesui, hidden from the sight. It is odious and
abominable, and must be put out of sight.
3. Iniquity, עון anon, which is perverse or distorted, must not be imputed, לא יחשב lo
yachshob, must not be reckoned to his account.
4. Guile, רמיה remiyah, must be annihilated from the soul: In whose spirit there is no Guile.
The man whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is hidden, God having cast it as a
millstone into the depths of the sea; whose iniquity and perversion is not reckoned to his
account; and whose guile, the deceitful and desperately wicked heart, is annihilated, being
emptied of sin and filled with righteousness, is necessarily a happy man.
The old Psalter translates these two verses thus: Blissid qwas wikednes es for gyven, and qwas
synnes is hyled (covered). Blisful man til qwam Lord retted (reckoneth) noght Syn: ne na treson es
in his gast (spirit). In vain does any man look for or expect happiness while the power of sin
remains, its guilt unpardoned, and its impurity not purged away. To the person who has got such
blessings, we may say as the psalmist said, אשרי ashrey, O the blessedness of that man, whose
transgression is forgiven! etc.
St. Paul quotes this passage, Rom_4:6-7 (note), to illustrate the doctrine of justification by

5. faith; where see the notes.
3. Gill, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,.... Or "lifted up" (m); bore and carried
away: sin is a transgression of the law; the guilt of it charged upon the conscience of a sinner is a
heavy burden, too heavy for him to bear, and the punishment of it is intolerable: forgiveness is a
removal of sin, guilt, and punishment. Sin was first taken off, and transferred from the sinner to
Christ, the surety; and who laid upon him really and judicially, as the sins of the people of Israel
were put upon the scapegoat typically; and was bore by him, both guilt and punishment, and
taken away, finished, and made an end of; and by the application of his blood and sacrifice it is
taken away from the sinner's conscience; it is caused to pass from him, and is removed afar off,
as far as the east is from the west; it is so lifted off from him as to give him ease and peace, and so
as never to return to the destruction of him; wherefore such a man is a happy man; he has much
peace, comfort, calmness, and serenity of mind now can appear before God with intrepidity, and
serve him without fear; no bill of indictment can hereafter be found against him; no charge will
be exhibited, and so no condemnation to him. The same is expressed, though in different words,
in the next clause;
whose sin is covered; not by himself, by any works of righteousness done by him; for these are a
covering too narrow; nor by excuses and extenuations; for prosperity and happiness do not
attend such a conduct, Pro_28:13; but by Christ; he is the mercy seat, the covering of the law;
who is the covert of his people from the curses of it, and from the storm of divine wrath and
vengeance, due to the transgressions of it; his blood is the purple covering of the chariot, under
which the saints ride safe to heaven; the lines of his blood are drawn over crimson and scarlet
sins, by which they are blotted out, and are not legible; and being clothed with the robe of
Christ's righteousness, all their sins are covered from the eye of divine Justice; not from the eye
of God's omniscience, which sees the sins of all men, and beholds those of his own people; and
which he takes notice of, and corrects for, in a fatherly way; but from vindictive justice, they are
so hid as not to be imputed and charged, nor the saints to be condemned for them; such are
unblamable and unreproveable in the sight of God, and are all fair in the eyes of Christ; and
their sins are caused to pass away from themselves, and they have no more sight and conscience
of them; and though sought for at the last day, they will not be found and brought to light, nor be
seen by men or angels. There is something unseemly, impure, nauseous, abominable, and
provoking in sin; which will not bear to be seen by the Lord, and therefore must be covered, or
the sinner can never stand in his presence and be happy.
4. Henry, “This psalm is entitled Maschil, which some take to be only the name of the tune to
which it was set and was to be sung. But others think it is significant; our margin reads it, A
psalm of David giving instruction, and there is nothing in which we have more need of instruction
than in the nature of true blessedness, wherein it consists and the way that leads to it - what we
must do that we may be happy. There are several things in which these verses instruct us. In
general, we are here taught that our happiness consists in the favour of God, and not in the
wealth of this world - in spiritual blessings, and not the good things of this world. When David
says (Psa_1:1), Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, and (Psa_119:1),
Blessed are the undefiled in the way, the meaning is, “This is the character of the blessed man; and
he that has not this character cannot expect to be happy:” but when it is here said, Blessed is the
man whose iniquity is forgiven, the meaning is, “This is the ground of his blessedness: this is that
fundamental privilege from which all the other ingredients of his blessedness flow.” In particular,
we are here instructed,

6. I. Concerning the nature of the pardon of sin. This is that which we all need and are undone
without; we are therefore concerned to be very solicitous and inquisitive about it. 1. It is the
forgiving of transgression. Sin is the transgression of the law. Upon our repentance, the
transgression is forgiven; that is, the obligation to punishment which we lay under, by virtue of
the sentence of the law, is vacated and cancelled; it is lifted off (so some read it), that by the
pardon of it we may be eased of a burden, a heavy burden, like a load on the back, that makes us
stoop, or a load on the stomach, that makes us sick, or a load on the spirits, that makes us sink.
The remission of sins gives rest and relief to those that were weary and heavily laden, Mat_11:28.
2. It is the covering of sin, as nakedness is covered, that it may not appear to our shame,
Rev_3:18. One of the first symptoms of guilt in our first parents was blushing at their own
nakedness. Sin makes us loathsome in the sight of God and utterly unfit for communion with
him, and, when conscience is awakened, it makes us loathsome to ourselves too; but, when sin is
pardoned, it is covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness, like the coats of skins wherewith
God clothed Adam and Eve (an emblem of the remission of sins), so that God is no longer
displeased with us, but perfectly reconciled. They are not covered from us (no; My sin is ever
before me) nor covered from God's omniscience, but from his vindictive justice. When he pardons
sin he remembers it no more, he casts it behind his back, it shall be sought for and not found, and
the sinner, being thus reconciled to God, begins to be reconciled to himself. 3. It is the not
imputing of iniquity, not laying it to the sinner's charge, not proceeding against him for it
according to the strictness of the law, not dealing with him as he deserves. The righteousness of
Christ being imputed to us, and we being made the righteousness of God in him, our iniquity is
not imputed, God having laid upon him the iniquity of us all and made him sin for us. Observe,
1ot to impute iniquity is God's act, for he is the Judge. It is God that justifies.
5. K&D, “The Psalm begins with the celebration of the happiness of the man who experiences God's
justifying grace, when he gives himself up unreservedly to Him. Sin is called פֶּשַׁע , as being a
breaking loose or tearing away from God; חֲטָאָה , as a deviation from that which is well-pleasing to
God; עָוֹן , as a perversion, distortion, misdeed. The forgiveness of sin is styled נָשָׂא (Exo_34:7), as a
lifting up and taking away, αἴρειν and ἀφαιρεῖν, Exo_34:7; כִּסָּה (Psa_85:3, Pro_10:12, Xeh_4:5), as
a covering, so that it becomes invisible to God, the Holy One, and is as though it had never taken
place; 2) א חָשַׁב [Sa_19:20, cf. Arab. ḥsb, to number, reckon, ου λογίζεσθαι, Rom_4:6-9), as a non-imputing;
the δικαιοσύνη χωρὶς ἔργων is here distinctly expressed. The justified one is called
נְשׂוּי־פֶּשַׁע , as being one who is exempted from transgression, praevaricatione levatus (Ges. §135, 1);
נְשׂוּ י , instead of נְשֻׁא , Isa_33:24, is intended to rhyme with כְּסוּי (which is the part. to כִּסָּה , just as
„ בָּרוּ is the participle to „ כְּרֵ ); vid., on Isa_22:13. One “covered of sin” is one over whose sin lies the
covering of expiation ( כִּפֶּר , root כף , to cover, cogn. Arab. gfr, chfr, chmr, gmr) before the holy eyes
of God.
6. “This is the first Psalm after 1 that begins with blessed. 1o.1 is the blessedness of innocence,
but here is the blessedness of innocence restored through forgiveness.
Happiness is a state of mind where one does not carry the burden of guilt. Blessed is a word to
describe the freedom of spirit that comes to those set free from sin and iniquity. These things are
a drag and lead to heaviness-Heb. 12:1. The joy of forgiveness leads to a light heart. 1ote that is
does not say blessed is the man who has not sinned. If that was the only way to be blessed, then
we are all sunk. It is good news that even the sinner can be blessed and happy. There an answer
for guilt. It is folly to say if only I had not done this or that. This verse says blessed is he who did

7. this or that, but who gets the weight of it off from him.
Transgression-to over step and go into forbidden territory. Luther was asked which was the best
Psalm and he said 32, 51, 130 and 143 for they all teach that the forgiveness of our sins comes
without the law or works, to the man who believes, and so I call them Pauline Psalms.
Forgiven-three words of hope to match the three words of heaviness-forgiven, covered, inputeth
not. These are God’s remedy for man’s calamity.
Does forgiveness sound too easy? All God demands is that we admit our sin and confess it. This
is hard for people to do for the tendency is to hide our sin.
The trinity of sin is overcome by the trinity of heaven says Spurgeon. There is no happiness
where there is no forgiveness.
Do you feel that it easier for others to be forgiven than yourself? Do you feel you could be
forgiven of a great sin? The blighted life can yet become a blessed life.
Whose sin is covered-if the sin is big God gets a bigger cover for God always has an adequate
cover-Rom. 5:20. There are two ways to cover sin-by suppression or by atonement. One leads to
sickness and the other to health-Prov. 28:13. There is man’s cover up and Gods. Man tries to
deny or justify it, but the only way to deal with sin properly is to confess it and be forgiven.
We all have some defect in our body but do not feel any shame if it is covered, so if God covers
our sin we need not feel shame.” author unknown
7. Spurgeon, “Blessed. Like the sermon on the mount on the mount, this Psalm begins with
beatitudes. This is the second Psalm of benediction. The first Psalm describes the result of holy
blessedness, the thirty-second details the cause of it. The first pictures the tree in full growth, this
depicts it in its first planting and watering. He who in the first Psalm is a reader of God's book, is
here a suppliant at God's throne accepted and heard. Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven. He is now blessed and ever shall be. Be he ever so poor, or sick, or sorrowful, he is
blessed in very deed. Pardoning mercy is of all things in the world most to be prized, for it is the
only and sure way to happiness. To hear from God's own Spirit the words, "absolvo te" is joy
unspeakable. Blessedness is not in this case ascribed to the man who has been a diligent law
keeper, for then it would never come to us, but rather to a lawbreaker, who by grace most rich
and free has been forgiven. Self righteous Pharisees have no portion in this blessedness. Over the
returning prodigal, the word of welcome is here pronounced, and the music and dancing begin. A
full, instantaneous, irreversible pardon of transgression turns the poor sinner's hell into heaven,
and makes the heir of wrath a partaker in blessing. The word rendered forgiven is in the original
taken off or taken away, as a burden is lifted or a barrier removed. What a lift is here! It cost our
Saviour a sweat of blood to bear our load, yea, it cost him his life to bear it quite away. Samson
carried the gates of Gaza, but what was that to the weight which Jesus bore on our behalf?
Whose sin is covered. Covered by God, as the ark was covered by the mercyseat, as 1oah was
covered from the flood, as the Egyptians were covered by the depths of the sea. What a cover
must that be which hides away for ever from the sight of the all seeing God all the filthiness of the
flesh and of the spirit! He who has once seen sin in its horrible deformity, will appreciate the
happiness of seeing it no more for ever. Christ's atonement is the propitiation, the covering, the

8. making an end of sin; where this is seen and trusted in, the soul knows itself to be now accepted
in the Beloved, and therefore enjoys a conscious blessedness which is the antepast of heaven. It is
clear from the text that a man may know that he is pardoned: where would be the blessedness of
an unknown forgiveness? Clearly it is a matter of knowledge, for it is the ground of comfort.
8. Calvin, “ Blessed are they whose iniquity is forgiven. This exclamation springs from the fervent
affection of the Psalmist’s heart as well as from serious consideration. Since almost the whole
world turning away their thoughts from God’s judgment, bring upon themselves a fatal
forgetfulness, and intoxicate themselves with deceitful pleasures; David, as if he had been
stricken with the fear of God’s wrath, that he might betake himself to Divine mercy, awakens
others also to the same exercise, by declaring distinctly and loudly that those only are blessed to
whom God is reconciled, so as to acknowledge those for his children whom he might justly treat
as his enemies. Some are so blinded with hypocrisy and pride, and some with such gross
contempt of God, that they are not at all anxious in seeking forgiveness, but all acknowledge that
they need forgiveness; nor is there a man in existence whose conscience does not accuse him at
God’s judgment-seat, and gall him with many stings. This confession, accordingly, that all need
forgiveness, because no man is perfect, and that then only is it well with us when God pardons
our sins, nature herself extorts even from wicked men. But in the meantime, hypocrisy shuts the
eyes of multitudes, while others are so deluded by a perverse carnal security, that they are
touched either with no feelings of Divine wrath, or with only a frigid feeling of it.
From this proceeds a twofold error: first, that such men make light of their sins, and reflect not
on the hundredth part of their danger from God’s indignation; and, secondly, that they invent
frivolous expiations to free themselves from guilt and to purchase the favor of God. Thus in all
ages it has been everywhere a prevailing opinion, that although all men are infected with sin, they
are at the same time adorned with merits which are calculated to procure for them the favor of
God, and that although they provoke his wrath by their crimes, they have expiations and
satisfactions in readiness to obtain their absolution. This delusion of Satan is equally common
among Papists, Turks, Jews, and other nations. Every man, therefore, who is not carried away by
the furious madness of Popery, will admit the truth of this statement, that men are in a wretched
state unless God deal mercifully with them by not laying their sins to their charge. But David
goes farther, declaring that the whole life of man is subjected to God’s wrath and curse, except in
so far as he vouchsafes of his own free grace to receive them into his favor; of which the Spirit
who spake by David is an assured interpreter and witness to us by the mouth of Paul, (Romans
4:6.) Had Paul not used this testimony, never would his readers have penetrated the real meaning
of the prophet; for we see that the Papists, although they chant in their temples, “Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven,” etc., yet pass over it as if it were some common saying and of little
importance. But with Paul, this is the full definition of the righteousness of faith; as if the prophet
had said, Men are then only blessed when they are freely reconciled to God, and counted as
righteous by him. The blessedness, accordingly, that David celebrates utterly destroys the
righteousness of works. The device of a partial righteousness with which Papists and others
delude themselves is mere folly; and even among those who are destitute of the light of heavenly
doctrine, no one will be found so mad as to arrogate a perfect righteousness to himself, as
appears from the expiations, washings, and other means of appeasing God, which have always
been in use among all nations. But yet they do not hesitate to obtrude their virtues upon God, just
as if by them they had acquired of themselves a great part of their blessedness.
David, however, prescribes a very different order, namely, that in seeking happiness, all should
begin with the principle, that God cannot be reconciled to those who are worthy of eternal
destruction in any other way than by freely pardoning them, and bestowing upon them his favor.

9. And justly does he declare that if mercy is withheld from them, all men must be utterly wretched
and accursed; for if all men are naturally prone only to evil, until they are regenerated, their
whole previous life, it is obvious, must be hateful and loathsome in the sight of God. Besides, as
even after regeneration, no work which men perform can please God unless he pardons the sin
which mingles with it, they must be excluded from the hope of salvation. Certainly nothing will
remain for them but cause for the greatest terror. That the works of the saints are unworthy of
reward because they are spotted with stains, seems a hard saying to the Papists. But, in this they
betray their gross ignorance in estimating, according to their own conceptions, the judgment of
God, in whose eyes the very brightness of the stars is but darkness. Let this therefore remain an
established doctrine, that as we are only accounted righteous before God by the free remission of
sins, this is the gate of eternal salvation; and, accordingly, that they only are blessed who rely
upon God’s mercy. We must bear in mind the contrast which I have already mentioned between
believers who, embracing the remission of sins, rely upon the grace of God alone, and all others
who neglect to betake themselves to the sanctuary of Divine grace.
Moreover, when David thrice repeats the same thing, this is no vain repetition. It is indeed
sufficiently evident of itself that the man must be blessed whose iniquity is forgiven; but
experience teaches us how difficult it is to become persuaded of this in such a manner as to have
it thoroughly fixed in our hearts. The great majority, as I have already shown you, entangled by
devices of their own, put away from them, as far as they can, the terrors of conscience and all fear
of Divine wrath. They have, no doubt, a desire to be reconciled to God; and yet they shun the
sight of him, rather than seek his grace sincerely and with all their hearts. Those, on the other
hand, whom God has truly awakened so as to be affected with a lively sense of their misery, are so
constantly agitated and disquieted that it is difficult to restore peace to their minds. They taste
indeed God’s mercy, and endeavor to lay hold of it, and yet they are frequently abashed or made
to stagger under the manifold assaults which are made upon them. The two reasons for which the
Psalmist insists so much on the subject of the forgiveness of sins are these, - that he may, on the
one hand, raise up those who are fallen asleep, inspire the careless with thoughtfulness, and
quicken the dull; and that he may, on the other hand, tranquillise fearful and anxious minds with
an assured and steady confidence. To the former, the doctrine may be applied in this manner:
”What mean ye, O ye unhappy men! that one or two stings of conscience do not disturb you?
Suppose that a certain limited knowledge of your sins is not sufficient to strike you with terror,
yet how preposterous is it to continue securely asleep, while you are overwhelmed with an
immense load of sins?” And this repetition furnishes not a little comfort and confirmation to the
feeble and fearful. As doubts are often coming upon them, one after another, it is not sufficient
that they are victorious in one conflict only. That despair, therefore, may not overwhelm them
amidst the various perplexing thoughts with which they are agitated, the Holy Spirit confirms
and ratifies the remission of sins with many declarations.
It is now proper to weigh the particular force of the expressions here employed. Certainly the
remission which is here treated of does not agree with satisfactions. God, in lifting off or taking
away sins, and likewise in covering and not imputing them, freely pardons them. On this account
the Papists, by thrusting in their satisfactions and works of supererogation as they call them,
bereave themselves of this blessedness. Besides, David applies these words to complete
forgiveness. The distinction, therefore, which the Papists here make between the remission of the
punishment and of the fault, by which they make only half a pardon, is not at all to the purpose.
1ow, it is necessary to consider to whom this happiness belongs, which may be easily gathered
from the circumstance of the time. When David was taught that he was blessed through the
mercy of God alone, he was not an alien from the church of God; on the contrary, he had profited
above many in the fear and service of God, and in holiness of life, and had exercised himself in all
the duties of godliness. And even after making these advances in religion, God so exercised him,

10. that he placed the alpha and omega of his salvation in his gratuitous reconciliation to God. 1or is
it without reason that Zacharias, in his song, represents “the knowledge of salvation” as
consisting in knowing “the remission of sins,” (Luke 1:77.) The more eminently that any one
excels in holiness, the farther he feels himself from perfect righteousness, and the more clearly he
perceives that he can trust in nothing but the mercy of God alone. Hence it appears, that those
are grossly mistaken who conceive that the pardon of sin is necessary only to the beginning of
righteousness. As believers are every day involved in many faults, it will profit them nothing that
they have once entered the way of righteousness, unless the same grace which brought them into
it accompany them to the last step of their life. Does any one object, that they are elsewhere said
to be blessed “who fear the Lord,” “who walk in his ways,” “who are upright in heart,” etc., the
answer is easy, namely, that as the perfect fear of the Lord, the perfect observance of his law, and
perfect uprightness of heart, are nowhere to be found, all that the Scripture anywhere says,
concerning blessedness, is founded upon the free favor of God, by which he reconciles us to
himself.
9. TODAY I1 THE WORD
Forgiveness is good for you. Several recent studies have shown links between forgiving others and
mental and physical health. Vengeful people, for example, place themselves at higher risk for
cardiovascular problems. Anger and depression resulting from unforgiveness put the body under
tremendous stress; chronic stress weakens the immune system and can lead to other physical
disorders. Unforgiveness also increases the chances of a heart attack, cancer, high blood pressure,
and other illnesses. But forgiveness can help lower depression, anxiety, and stress. It reduces
blood pressure, decreases heart rate, and helps one sleep better at night. Letting go of hurts and
offenses reduces the burden on both mind and body.
Researchers are finding what believers have long known: Forgiveness is a rich blessing. To
confess and be forgiven is a righteous pleasure. Since we know that God delights to forgive (see
October 1), we can be sure that He intends for us to delight in it as well!
Today’s reading describes the exuberance of being forgiven. The sequence is simple: when we
confess, God will surely forgive our sins (v. 5). When our sins are forgiven, we will surely
experience joy and blessing. “Blessed” (v. 1) has been said to mean, “Oh, how very happy!” By
contrast, before the psalmist confessed, he labored under heavy conviction. His silence, an
implicit attempt to deceive God about the truth of his sin, was a burden. The language David
used here is extreme--he groaned continuously, his strength was sapped, and his bones wasted
away--so extreme that some commentators believe he endured a physical illness. He suffered
because he wouldn’t acknowledge his sin before God.
TODAY ALO1G THE WAY
Psalm 32 is traditionally known as one of the “seven penitential psalms.” If you wish, read
another of these psalms as a supplementary Scripture reading today. We’re reading three of them
already this month, but you might choose Psalm 6, 38, 102, or 143
10. “Viking explorer Eric the Red discovered a new 1orth Atlantic island in the tenth century. It
was covered mostly with glaciers and rocks, having only a few patches of land that were suitable
for living. Yet Eric gave his discovery the name Greenland, in the hope that colonists would be
more likely to come to the new island if it had an attractive name.
Whether Eric's ruse worked is a question for the historians. But it illustrates our human
tendency to put a positive spin on reality. Psalm 32 may have been written against the
background of another ruse. We do not have the exact details in the text, but David apparently

11. sinned in some way and tried to cover it up (vv. 3-5)(Some believe it was David's sin with
Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11).
The king tried to deny the truth for a period of time, but it only made him miserable. He
complained that his strength 'was sapped as in the heat of summer' (v. 4).
Some of our Today readers may identify with this analogy more quickly than others, but all of us
have experienced summer heat that left us feeling drained and exhausted. Of all the seasons,
summer has the unique ability to steal our energy. David chose his word picture well, because our
Christian lives can also enter a period in which our faith feels parched and weak.
In David's case, sin was the cause of a summer drought in his heart, and even his body. The
remedy for David's dryness was full confession of his sin to God and a prayer for forgiveness. If
that is the cause of our problem, the remedy is the same. Instead of being blasted by the summer
heat of guilt, the believer whose 'sin account' is current with God is blessed.
There are other reasons for a period of time like this, of course. Physical or emotional suffering,
intense spiritual struggle, or any number of other circumstances can bear down on us and drain
away our strength. But whether our need is to confess, or persevere in the face of a hard trial,
God has new strength waiting for us when we turn to Him.
TODAY ALO1G THE WAY
We again encourage you to use Scripture verses in prayer. Today's lesson calls for this kind of
response.
The Scripture we suggest is another passage that will probably be very familiar to you, Isaiah
40:28-31. Why not go to these powerful verses and turn the prophet's statements into a prayer for
spiritual strength? Since yesterday's application emphasized thanksgiving, you may want to
continue that theme by thanking God that He never grows weary, and that He promises strength
to those who are tired. Even if your faith is not in a summer drought right now, you'll find these
truths invigorating Devotional from Moody Bible Institute
11. Treasury of David, “Verse 1. Blessed. Or, O blessed man; or, Oh, the felicities of that man! to
denote the most supreme and perfect blessedness. As the elephant, to denote its vast bulk, is
spoken of in the plural number, Behemoth. Robert Leighton.
Verse 1. 1otice, this is the first Psalm, except the first of all, which begins with Blessedness. In the
first Psalm we have the blessing of innocence, or rather, of him who only was innocent: here we
have the blessing of repentance, as the next happiest state to that of sinlessness. Lorinus, in
1eale's Commentary.
Verse 1. Blessed is the man, saith David, whose sins are pardoned, where he maketh remission of
sins to be true felicity. 1ow there is no true felicity but that which is enjoyed, and felicity cannot
be enjoyed unless it be felt; and it cannot be felt unless a man know himself to be in possession of
it; and a man cannot know himself to be in possession of it, if he doubt whether he hath it or not;
and therefore this doubting of the remission of sins is contrary to true felicity, and is nothing else
but a torment of the conscience. For a man cannot doubt whether his sins be pardoned or not,
but straightway, if his conscience be not seared with a hot iron, the very thought of his sin will
strike a great fear into him; for the fear of eternal death, and the horror of God's judgment will
come to his remembrance, the consideration of which is most terrible. William Perkins.
Verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Get your sins hid.
There is a covering of sin which proves a curse. Proverbs 28:13. "He that covereth his sins shall

12. not prosper;" there is a covering it, by not confessing it, or which is worse, by denying it --
Gehazi's covering -- a covering of sin by a lie; and there is also a covering of sin by justifying
ourselves in it. I have not done this thing; or, I did no evil in it. All these are evil coverings: he
that thus covereth his sin shall not prosper. But there is a blessed covering of sin: forgiveness of
sin is the hiding it out of sight, and that's the blessedness. Richard Alleine.
Verse 1. Whose transgression is forgiven. We may lull the soul asleep with carnal delights, but the
virtue of that opium will be soon spent. All those joys are but stolen waters, and bread eaten in
secret -- a poor sorry peace that dares not come to the light and endure the trial; a sorry peace
that is soon disturbed by a few serious and sober thoughts of God and the world to come; but
when once sin is pardoned, then you have true joy indeed. "Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven
thee." Matthew 9:2. Thomas Manton.
Verse 1. Forgiven. Holy David, in the front of this Psalm shows us wherein true happiness
consists: not in beauty, honour, riches (the world's trinity), but in the forgiveness of sin. The
Hebrew word to forgive, signifies to carry out of sight; which well agrees with that Jeremiah
50:20. "In those days, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be
none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found." This is an incomprehensible blessing,
and such as lays a foundation for all other mercies. I shall but glance at it, and lay down these
five assertions about it.
1. Forgiveness is an act of God's free grace. The Greek word to forgive, deciphers the original of
pardon; it ariseth not from anything inherent in us, but is the pure result of free grace. Isaiah
43:25. "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake." When a creditor
forgives a debtor, he doeth it freely. Paul cries out, "I obtained mercy." 1 Timothy 1:13. The
Greek signifies, "I was be-mercied;" he who is pardoned, is all bestrewed with mercy. When the
Lord pardons a sinner, he doth not pay a debt, but gives a legacy.
2. God in forgiving sin, remits the guilt and penalty. Guilt cries for justice: no sooner had Adam
eaten the apple, but he saw the flaming sword, and heard the curse; but in remission God doth
indulge the sinner; he seems to say thus to him: Though thou art fallen into the hands of my
justice, and deserve to die, yet I will absolve thee, and whatever is charged upon thee shall be
discharged.
3. Forgiveness of sin is through the blood of Christ. Free grace is the impulsive cause; Christ's
blood is the meritorious. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb 9:22. Justice would
be revenged either on the sinner or the surety. Every pardon is the price of blood.
4. Before sin is forgiven, it must be repented of. Therefore repentance and remission are linked
together. "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name." Luke 24:47.
1ot that repentance doth in a Popish sense merit forgiveness; Christ's blood must wash our tears;
but repentance is a qualification, though not a cause. He who is humbled for sin will the more
value pardoning mercy.
5. God having forgiven sin, he will call it no more into remembrance. Jeremiah 31:34. The Lord
will make an act of indemnity, he will not upbraid us with former unkindnesses, or sue us with a
cancelled bond. "He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Mic 7:19. Sin shall not be
cast in as a cork which riseth up again, but as lead which sinks to the bottom. How should we all
labour for this covenant blessing! Thomas Watson.
Verse 1. Sin is covered. Every man that must be happy, must have something to hide and cover
his sins from God's eyes; and nothing in the world can do it, but Christ and his righteousness,
typified in the ark of the covenant, whose cover was of gold, and called a propitiatory, that as it
covered the tables that were within the ark, so God covers our sins against those tables. So the
cloud covering the Israelites in the wilderness, signified God's covering us from the danger of our

13. sins. Thomas Taylor's "David's Learning: or the Way to True Happiness." 1617.
Verse 1. Sin covered. This covering hath relation to some nakedness and filthiness which should
be covered, even sin, which defileth us and maketh us naked. Why, saith Moses to Aaron, hast
thou made the people naked? Exodus 32:25. The garments of our merits are too short and cannot
cover us, we have need therefore to borrow of Christ Jesus his merits and the mantle of his
righteousness, that it may be unto us as a garment, and as those breeches of leather which God
made unto Adam and Eve after their fall. Garments are ordained to cover our nakedness, defend
us from the injury of the weather, and to adorn us. So the mediation of our Saviour serveth to
cover our nakedness, that the wrath of God seize not upon us -- he is that "white raiment"
wherewith we should be clothed, that our filthy nakedness may not appear -- to defend us against
Satan -- he is "mighty to save," etc. -- and to be an ornament to decorate us, for he is that
"wedding garment:" "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." Revelation 3:18 Isaiah 63:1 Matthew
22:11 Romans 13:14. Archibald Symson.
Verse 1. The object of pardon -- about which it is conversant, is set forth under diverse
expressions -- iniquity, transgression, and sin. As in law many words of like import and
signification are heaped up and put together, to make the deed and legal instrument more
comprehensive and effectual. I observe it the rather, because when God proclaims his name the
same words are used, Exodus 34:7, "Taking away iniquity, transgressions, and sin." Well, we
have seen the meaning of the expression. Why doth the holy man of God use such vigour and
vehemency of inculcation. "Blessed is the man!" and again, "Blessed is the man!" Partly with
respect to his own case. David knew how sweet it was to have sin pardoned; he had felt the
bitterness of sin in his own soul, to the drying up of his blood, and therefore he doth express his
sense of pardon in the most lively terms. And then, partly, too, with respect to those for whose use
this instruction was written, that they might not look upon it as a light and trivial thing, but be
thoroughly apprehensive of the worth of so great a privilege. Blessed, happy, thrice happy they
who have obtained pardon of their sins, and justification by Jesus Christ. Thomas Manton.
Verse 1-2. In these verses four evils are mentioned; 1. -- Transgression, ([fp) pesha.
1. Sin, (hajx) chataah.
2. -- Iniquity, (!w[) avon.
3. -- Guile, (hymd) remiyah. The first signifies the passing over a boundary, doing what is
prohibited. The second signifies the missing of a mark, not doing what was commanded; but it is
often taken to express sinfulness, or sin in the nature, producing transgression in the life. The
third signifies what is turned out of its proper course or situation; anything morally distorted or
perverted. Iniquity, what is contrary to equity or justice. The fourth signifies fraud, deceit, guile,
etc. To remove these evils, three acts are mentioned: forgiving, covering, and not imputing.
4. TRA1SGRESSIO1, ([fp) pesha, must be forgiven, (ywvn) nesui, borne away, i.e., by a
vicarious sacrifice; for bearing sin, or bearing away sin, always implies this.
5. SI1, (hajx) chataah, must be covered, (ywsb) kesui, hidden from the sight. It is odious and
abominable, and must be put out of sight.
6. I1IQUITY, (!w[) avon, what is perverse or distorted, must not be imputed, (bvxyal) lo
yachshobh, must not be reckoned to his account.
7. GUILE, (hymd) remiyah, must be annihilated from the soul. In whose spirit there is no
GUILE. The man whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is hidden, God having cast it as a
millstone into the depths of the sea; whose iniquity and perversion is not reckoned to his account;
and whose guile, the deceitful and desperately wicked heart, is annihilated, being emptied of sin,
and filled with righteousness, is necessarily a happy man. Adam Clarke.
Verse 1-2. Transgression. Prevarication. Some understand by it sins of omission and commission.

14. Sin. Some understand those inward inclinations, lusts, and motions, whereby the soul swerves
from the law of God, and which are the immediate cause of external sins.
Iniquity. 1otes original sin, the root of all.
Levatus, forgiven, eased, signifies to take away, to bear, to carry away. Two words in Scripture
are chiefly used to denote remission, to expiate, to bear or carry away: the one signifies the
manner whereby it is done, namely, atonement, the other the effect of this expiation, carrying
away; one notes the meritorious cause, the other the consequent.
Covered. Alluding to the covering of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Menochius thinks it alludes to
the manner of writing among the Hebrews, which he thinks to be the same with that of the
Romans; as writing with a pencil upon wax spread upon tables, which when they would blot out
they made the wax plain, and drawing it over the writing, covered the former letters. And so it is
equivalent with that expression of "blotting out sin," as in the other allusion it is with "casting sin
into the depths of the sea."
Impute. 1ot charging upon account. As sin is a defection from the law, so it is forgiven; as it is
offensive to God's holiness, so it is covered; as it is a debt involving man in a debt of punishment,
so it is not imputed; they all note the certainty, and extent, and perfection of pardon: the three
words expressing sin here, being the same that are used by God in the declaration of his name.
Stephen Charnock.
Verse 1-2, 6-7. Who is blessed? 1ot he who cloaks, conceals, confesses not his sin. As long as
David was in this state he was miserable. There was guile in his spirit Psalms 32:2 misery in his
heart, his very bones waxed old, his moisture was dried up as the drought in summer Psalms
32:3-4. Who is blessed? He that is without sin, he who sins not, he who grieves no more by his sin
the bosom on which he reclines. This is superlative blessedness, its highest element the happiness
of heaven. To be like God, to yield implicit, ready, full, perfect obedience, the obedience of the
heart, of our entire being; this is to be blessed above all blessedness. But among those who live in
a world of sin, who are surrounded by sin, who are themselves sinners, who is blessed? He whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity; and
especially does he feel it to be so, who can, in some degree, enter into the previous state of David's
soul Psalms 32:3-4. Ah, in what a wretched state was the psalmist previously to this blessedness!
How must sin have darkened and deadened his spiritual faculties, to have guile in the spirit of
one who could elsewhere exclaim, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my
thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me," any way of pain or grief, any way of sin
which most surely leads to these. Ps 139:23-34. What a mournful condition of soul was his, who
while he roared all the day long, yet kept silence before God, had no heart to open his heart unto
God, was dumb before him, not in submission to his will, not in accepting the punishment of his
iniquity Leviticus 26:46, not in real confession, and honest, upright, and sincere acknowledgment
of his iniquity to him against whom he had committed it. "I kept silence," not merely I was silent,
"I kept silence," resolutely, perseveringly; I kept it notwithstanding all the remembrance of my
past mercies, notwithstanding my reproaches of conscience, and my anguish of heart. I kept it
notwithstanding "thy hand was heavy upon me day and night," notwithstanding "my moisture,"
all that was spiritual in me, my vital spirit, all that was indicative of spiritual life in my soul,
seemed dried up and gone. Yes, Lord, notwithstanding all this, I kept it. But 1athan came, thou
didst send him. He was to me a messenger full of reproof, full of faithfulness, but full of love. He
came with thy word, and with the word of a King there was power. I acknowledged my sin unto
him, and my iniquity did I not hide, but this was little. Against thee, thee only, did I sin, and to
thee was my confession made. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, O Lord. I solemnly said that I
would do so, and I did it. I confessed my transgression unto the Lord, "and thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin."

15. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Behold the man who is blessed; blessed in the state
of his mind, his guileless spirit, his contrite heart, the fruit of the spirit of grace; blessed in the
forgiveness of a forgiving God; a forgiveness, perfect, entire, lacking nothing, signified by sin
"covered," "iniquity not imputed" of the Lord; blessed in the blessings which followed it. Thou
art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. Beneath the hollow of that hand which was once so heavy upon me, I can
now repose. Thou art my hiding place, I dread thee no more; nay, I dwell in thee as my
habitation, and my high tower, my covert, my safety, my house. Safe in thy love, whatever trouble
may be my portion, and by the mouth of 1athan thy servant thou hast declared that trouble shall
be my portion, I shall yet be preserved; yea, more, so fully wilt thou deliver me that I believe thou
wilt encompass me so with the arms of thy mercy, as to call forth songs of grateful praise for thy
gracious interposition.
Behold, the blessedness of him whom God forgives! 1o wonder, then, that the psalmist adds, for
this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in
the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. As much as if he had said, Surely
after this thy gracious conduct towards me, all that truly love and fear thee, every one that is
godly, when he hears of thy dealings with me, "will pray unto thee." Encouraged by my example,
he will not keep silence as I foolishly and sinfully did, but will confess and supplicate before thee,
since thou art to be "found," and hast so wondrously shown that thou art, of all that truly seek
thee, since there is the place of finding, as I lay my hand upon the victim, and look through that
victim to him the promised Seed; since there is the time of finding, declared in thy word, and
manifested by the secret drawing of my heart to thee by thy grace; since the unwillingness is not
in thee, but in thy sinning creature to come to thee; for this shall every one that is godly pray unto
thee, then, however deep the water floods may be, however fierce the torrent, and headlong the
stream, they shall not even come nigh unto him, much less shall they overwhelm him. James
Harrington Evans, M.A., 1785-1849.
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
1. Barnes, “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity - Whose sin is not
“reckoned” to him, or “charged” on him. The reference here is “to his own sin.” The idea is not,
that he is happy on whom God does not charge the guilt of other men, but that he is happy who is
not charged “with his own guilt,” or who is treated as if he had no guilt; that is, as if he were
innocent. This is the true idea of justification. It is, that a man, although he is a sinner, and “is
conscious” of having violated the law of God, is treated as if he had not committed sin, or as if he
were innocent; that is, he is pardoned, and his sins are remembered against him no more; and it
is the purpose of God to treat him henceforward as if he were innocent. The act of pardon does

16. not change the facts in the case, or “make him innocent,” but it makes it proper for God to treat
him as if he were innocent. The sin will not be re-charged upon him, or reckoned to his account;
but he is admitted to the same kind of treatment to which he would be entitled if he had always
been perfectly holy. See Rom_1:17, note; Rom_3:24, note; Rom_4:5, note; Rom_5:1, note.
And in whose spirit there is no guile - Who are sincere and true. That is, who are not
hypocrites; who are conscious of no desire to cover up or to conceal their offences; who make a
frank and full confession to God, imploring pardon. The “guile” here refers to the matter under
consideration. The idea is not who are “innocent,” or “without guilt,” but who are sincere, frank,
and honest in making “confession” of their sins; who keep nothing back when they go before
God. We cannot go before him and plead our innocence, but we may go before him with the
feeling of conscious sincerity and honesty in making confession of our guilt. Compare Psa_66:18.
2. Unknown author, “When God forgives sin it does not go into the record.
The law has no blessing except for the innocent, and none can be that. The Gospel has a blessing
for the guilty.
1o deceit-this means he does not deceive himself in think he can now sin without fear. He knows
he must be honest before God, and as he is not only the pass but all future sin is also covered by
the atonement.
Here’s pardon for transgressions past,
It matters not how black their cast;
And, O my soul! With wonder view,
For sins to come there’s pardon too.
David was deceitful and tried to get Uriah drunk so he would go to Bathsheba and feel that he
was the one who got her pregnant. He deceived the people and himself and got angry when
1athan told him the parable.
I think it is healthy to be aware of what could be and not deceive yourself, for if you are aware
you have more wisdom in what you permit yourself to get involved in. We must be honest with
ourselves to experience the blessing. If we practice self-deceit we miss the blessing.
Sin in five stages-
1. Conception of sin.
2. Commission of sin.
3. Consciousness of sin.
4. Confession of sin.
5. Cleansing of sin.
The only way to get from the negative side to the positive side is through the gate of guilt, for if
we never feel it we will never forsake it.”
3. Gill, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,.... Or "does not think of it"
(n); with respect unto men, at least to the harm of them; his thoughts are thoughts of peace, and
not of evil; their sins and iniquities he remembers no more; he does not charge them with them,
he does not reckon them, or place them to their account, having imputed them to his Son; see
2Co_5:19. The Apostle Paul interprets this as inclusive of the imputation of righteousness without

17. works; even of the righteousness of Christ, in which the blessedness of a man lies, Rom_4:6; for
such an one is accepted with God, is justified in his sight, and is secure from condemnation and
wrath; it is well with him at all times, in life, at death, and at judgment; he is an heir of eternal
life, will enter into it, and be for ever glorified;
and in whose spirit there is no guile: for being thoroughly convinced of sin, he is sincere in his
repentance for it, without deceit and hypocrisy in his confession of it; as David, the Apostle Paul,
and the publican were, when they acknowledged themselves sinners; his faith, in looking to
Christ for pardon and righteousness, is from the heart, and is unfeigned, and so is his profession
of it before God, angels, and men; and whatever hypocrisy and guile are remaining in the old
man, there is none in the new spirit put into him; in the new man, which is created in him, and
which sinneth not: as the other phrases are expressive of pardon and justification, this points at
internal sanctification, and which serves to complete the description of the happy man; such an
one as David himself was; and this happiness he illustrates from his own experience in the
following verses.
4. Henry, “Concerning the character of those whose sins are pardoned: in whose spirit there is no
guile. He does not say, “There is no guilt” (for who is there that lives and sins not?), but no guile;
the pardoned sinner is one that does not dissemble with God in his professions of repentance and
faith, nor in his prayers for peace or pardon, but in all these is sincere and means as he says - that
does not repent with a purpose to sin again, and then sin with a purpose to repent again, as a
learned interpreter glosses upon it. Those that design honestly, that are really what they profess
to be, are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.
III. Concerning the happiness of a justified state: Blessednesses are to the man whose iniquity is
forgiven, all manner of blessings, sufficient to make him completely blessed. That is taken away
which incurred the curse and obstructed the blessing; and then God will pour out blessings till
there be no room to receive them. The forgiveness of sin is that article of the covenant which is
the reason and ground of all the rest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, Heb_8:12.
5. Calvin, “In whose spirit there is no guile. In this clause the Psalmist distinguishes believers
both from hypocrites and from senseless despisers of God, neither of whom care for this
happiness, nor can they attain to the enjoyment of it. The wicked are, indeed, conscious to
themselves of their guilt, but still they delight in their wickedness; harden themselves in their
impudence, and laugh at threatenings; or, at least, they indulge themselves in deceitful flatteries,
that they may not be constrained to come into the presence of God. Yea, though they are rendered
unhappy by a sense of their misery, and harassed with secret torments, yet with perverse
forgetfulness they stifle all fear of God. As for hypocrites, if their conscience as any time stings
them, they soothe their pain with ineffectual remedies: so that if God at any time cite them to his
tribunal, they place before them I know not what phantoms for their defense; and they are never
without coverings whereby they may keep the light out of their hearts. Both these classes of men
are hindered by inward guile from seeking their happiness in the fatherly love of God. 1ay more,
many of them rush frowardly into the presence of God, or puff themselves up with proud
presumption, dreaming that they are happy, although God is against them. David, therefore,
means that no man can taste what the forgiveness of sins is until his heart is first cleansed from
guile. What he means, then, by this term, guile, may be understood from what I have said.
Whoever examines not himself, as in the presence of God, but, on the contrary, shunning his
judgment, either shrouds himself in darkness, or covers himself with leaves, deals deceitfully both

18. with himself and with God. It is no wonder, therefore, that he who feels not his disease refuses the
remedy. The two kinds of this guile which I have mentioned are to be particularly attended to.
Few may be so hardened as not to be touched with the fear of God, and with some desire of his
grace, and yet they are moved but coldly to seek forgiveness. Hence it comes to pass, that they do
not yet perceive what an unspeakable happiness it is to possess God’s favor. Such was David’s
case for a time, when a treacherous security stole upon him, darkened his mind, and prevented
him from zealously applying himself to pursue after this happiness. Often do the saints labor
under the same disease. If, therefore, we would enjoy the happiness which David here proposes to
us, we must take the greatest heed lest Satan, filling our hearts with guile, deprive us of all sense
of our wretchedness, in which every one who has recourse to subterfuges must necessarily pine
away.
6. Spurgeon, “Verse 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. The word
blessed is in the plural, oh, the blessednesses! the double joys, the bundles of happiness, the
mountains of delight! 1ote the three words so often used to denote our disobedience:
transgression, sin, and iniquity, are the three headed dog at the gates of hell, but our glorious
Lord has silenced his barkings for ever against his own believing ones. The trinity of sin is
overcome by the Trinity of heaven. 1on imputation is of the very essence of pardon: the believer
sins, but his sin is not reckoned, not accounted to him. Certain divines froth at the mouth with
rage against imputed righteousness, be it ours to see our sin not imputed, and to us may there be
as Paul words it, "Righteousness imputed without works." He is blessed indeed who has a
substitute to stand for him to whose account all his debts may be set down. And in whose spirit
there is no guile. He who is pardoned, has in every case been taught to deal honestly with himself,
his sin, and his God. Forgiveness is no sham, and the peace which it brings is not caused by
playing tricks with conscience. Self deception and hypocrisy bring no blessedness, they may drug
the soul into hell with pleasant dreams, but into the heaven of true peace they cannot conduct
their victim. Free from guilt, free from guile. Those who are justified from fault are sanctified
from falsehood. A liar is not a forgiven soul. Treachery, double dealing, chicanery, dissimulation,
are lineaments of the devil's children, but he who is washed from sin is truthful, honest, simple,
and childlike. There can be no blessedness to tricksters with their plans, and tricks, and shuffling,
and pretending: they are too much afraid of discovery to be at ease; their house is built on the
volcano's brink, and eternal destruction must be their portion. Observe the three words to
describe sin, and the three words to represent pardon, weigh them well, and note their meaning.
(See note at the end.)
7. Treasury of David, “Verse 2. Unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Aben Ezra
paraphrases it, of whose sins God does not think, does not regard them, so as to bring them into
judgment, reckoning them as if they were not; ou me logizetai does not count or calculate them;
does not require for them the debt of punishment. To us the remission is entirely free, our
Sponsor having taken upon him the whole business of paying the ransom. His suffering is our
impunity, his bond our freedom, and his chastisement our peace; and therefore the prophet says,
"The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." Robert
Leighton.
Verse 2. In whose spirit there is no guile. In the saint's trouble, conscience is full of Scripture
sometimes, on which it grounds its verdict, but very ill interpreted. Oh, saith the poor soul, this
place is against me! Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose
spirit there is no guile. Here, saith he, is a description of a sincere soul, to be one in whose spirit
there is no guile; but I find much guile in me, therefore I am not the sincere one. 1ow this is a

19. very weak, yea, false inference. By a spirit without guile, is not meant a person that hath not the
least deceitfulness and hypocrisy remaining in his heart. To be without sin, and to be without
guile, in this strict sense are the same -- a prerogative here on earth peculiar to the Lord Christ
1 Peter 2:22, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." And therefore when we
meet with the same phrase attributed to the saints, as to Levi, Malachi 2:6; "Iniquity was not
found in his lips;" and to 1athanael, John 1:47: "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no
guile!" we must sense it in an inferior way, that may suit with their imperfect state here below,
and not put that which was only Christ's crown on earth, and is the glorified saint's robe in
heaven, on the weak Christian while militant here on earth, not only with a devil without, but
with a body of sin within him. Wipe thine eyes again, poor soul, and then if thou readest such
places, wherein the Spirit of God speaks so highly and hyperbolically of his saint's grace, thou
shalt find he doth not assert the perfection of their grace, free from all mixture of sin, but rather
to comfort poor drooping souls, and cross their misgiving hearts, which, from the presence of
hypocrisy, are ready to overlook their sincerity as none at all, he expresses his high esteem of
their little grace, by speaking of it as if it were perfect, and their hypocrisy none at all. William
Gurnall.
Verse 2. In whose spirit there is no guile. When once pardon is realized, the believer has courage
to be truthful before God: he can afford to have done with guile in the spirit. Who would not
declare all his debts when they are certain to be discharged by another? Who would not declare
his malady when he was sure of a cure? True faith knows not only that guile before God is
impossible, but also that it is no longer necessary. The believer has nothing to conceal: he sees
himself as before God, stripped, and laid open, and bare; and if he has learned to see himself as
he is, so also has he learned to see God as he reveals himself. There is no guile in the spirit of one
who is justified by faith; because in the act of justification truth has been established in his
inward parts. There is no guile in the spirit of him who sees the truth of himself in the light of the
truth of God. For the truth of God shows him at once that in Christ he is perfectly righteous
before God, and in himself he is the chief of sinners. Such a one knows he is not his own, for he is
bought with a price, and therefore he is to glorify God. There is no guile in the spirit of him
whose real object is to glorify Christ and not himself. But when a man is not quite true to Christ,
and has not quite ceased to magnify self, there may be guile, for he will be more occupied with
thoughts about himself than with the honour of Christ. But if the truth, and honour, and glory of
Christ be his supreme care, he may leave himself out of the question, and, like Christ, "O commit
himself to him that judgeth righteously." J. W. Reeve, M.A., in "Lectures on the Thirty-second
Psalm," 1860.
Verse 2. 1o guile. Sincerity is that property to which pardoning mercy is annexed. True, indeed, it
is that Christ covers all our sins and failings; but it is only the sincere soul over which he will cast
his skirt. Blessed is he whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. 1one will doubt this; but which is the man? The next words tell us his name; And in
whose spirit there is no guile. Christ's righteousness is the garment which covers the nakedness
and shame of our unrighteousness; faith the grace that puts this garment on; but what faith?
1one but the faith unfeigned, as Paul calls it. 2 Timothy 1:5. "Here is water," said the eunuch,
"what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Ac 8:36. 1ow mark Philip's answer, Acts 8:37, "If thou
believest with all thine heart thou mayest;" as if he had said, 1othing but an hypocritical heart
can hinder thee. It is the false heart only that finds the door of mercy shut. William Gurnall.
Verse 2. Guile. The guile of the spirit is an inward corruption in the soul of man, whereby he
dealeth deceitfully with himself before God in the matter of salvation. Thomas Taylor.

20. 3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
1. Barnes, “When I kept silence - The psalmist now proceeds to state his condition of mind before
he himself found this peace, or before he had this evidence of pardon; the state in which he felt
deeply that he was a sinner, yet was unwilling to confess his sin, and attempted to conceal it in his
own heart. This he refers to by the expression, “When I kept silence;” that is, before I confessed
my sin, or before I made mention of it to God. The condition of mind was evidently this: he had
committed sin, but he endeavored to hide it in his own mind; he was unwilling to make confession
of it, and to implore pardon. He hoped, probably, that the conviction of sin would die away; or
that his trouble would cease of itself; or that time would relieve him; or that employment -
occupying himself in the affairs of the world - would soothe the anguish of his spirit, and render
it unnecessary for him to make a humiliating confession of his guilt. He thus describes a state of
mind which is very common in the case of sinners. They know that they are sinners, but they are
unwilling to make confession of their guilt. They attempt to conceal it. They put off, or try to
remove far away, the whole subject. They endeavor to divert their minds, and to turn their
thoughts from a subject so painful as the idea of guilt - by occupation, or by amusement, or even
by plunging into scenes of dissipation. Sometimes, often in fact, they are successful in this; but,
sometimes, as in the case of the psalmist, the trouble at the remembrance of sins becomes deeper
and deeper, destroying their rest, and wasting their strength, until they make humble confession,
and “then” the mind finds rest.
My bones waxed old - My strength failed; my strength was exhausted; it seemed as if the
decrepitude of age was coming upon me. The word here used, and rendered “waxed old,” would
properly denote “decay,” or the wearing out of the strength by slow decay. All have witnessed the
prostrating effect of excessive grief.
Through my roaring - My cries of anguish and distress. See the notes at Psa_22:1. The meaning
here is, that his sorrow was so great as to lead to loud and passionate cries; and this well
describes the condition of a mind under deep trouble at the remembrance of sin and the
apprehension of the wrath of God.
All the day long - Continually; without intermission.
2. Clarke, “When I kept silence - Before I humbled myself, and confessed my sin, my soul was
under the deepest horror. “I roared all the day long;” and felt the hand of God heavy upon my
soul.

21. 3. Gill, “When I kept silence,.... Was unthoughtful of sin, unconcerned about it, and made no
acknowledgment and confession of it to God, being quite senseless and stupid; the Targum adds,
"from the words of the law"; which seems to point at sin as the cause of what follows;
my bones waxed old; through my roaring all the day long; not under a sense of sin, but under
some severe affliction, and through impatience in it; not considering that sin lay at the bottom,
and was the occasion of it; and such was the violence of the disorder, and his uneasiness under it,
that his strength was dried up by it, and his bones stuck out as they do in aged persons, whose
flesh is wasted away from them; see Psa_102:3.
4. Henry, “ Concerning the uncomfortable condition of an unhumbled sinner, that sees his guilt,
but is not yet brought to make a penitent confession of it. This David describes very pathetically,
from his own sad experience (Psa_32:3, Psa_32:4): While I kept silence my bones waxed old. Those
may be said to keep silence who stifle their convictions, who, when they cannot but see the evil of
sin and their danger by reason of it, ease themselves by not thinking of it and diverting their
minds to something else, as Cain to the building of a city, - who cry not when God binds them, -
who will not unburden their consciences by a penitent confession, nor seek for peace, as they
ought, by faithful and fervent prayer, - and who choose rather to pine away in their iniquities
than to take the method which God has appointed of finding rest for their souls. Let such expect
that their smothered convictions will be a fire in their bones, and the wounds of sin, not opened,
will fester, and grow intolerably painful. If conscience be seared, the case is so much the more
dangerous; but if it be startled and awake, it will be heard. The hand of divine wrath will be felt
lying heavily upon the soul, and the anguish of the spirit will affect the body; to the degree David
experienced it, so that when he was young his bones waxed old; and even his silence made him
roar all the day long, as if he had been under some grievous pain and distemper of body, when
really the cause of all his uneasiness was the struggle he felt in his own bosom between his
convictions and his corruptions. 1ote, He that covers his sin shall not prosper; some inward
trouble is required in repentance, but there is much worse in impenitency.
5. K&D 3-5, “For, as his own experience has taught the poet, he who does not in confession pour
out all his corruption before God, only tortures himself until he unburdens himself of his secret
curse. Since Psa_32:3 by itself cannot be regarded as the reason for the proposition just laid
down, כִּי signifies either “because, quod” (e.g., Pro_22:22) or “when, quum” (Jdg_16:16;
Hos_11:10. The שְׁאָגָ ה was an outburst of the tortures which his accusing conscience prepared for
him. The more he strove against confessing, the louder did conscience speak; and while it was not
in his power to silence this inward voice, in which the wrath of God found utterance, he cried the
whole day, viz., for help; but while his heart was still unbroken, he cried yet received no answer.
He cried all day long, for God's punishing right hand (Psa_38:3; Psa_39:11) lay heavey upon him
day and night; the feeling of divine wrath left him no rest, cf. Job_33:14. A fire burned within
him which threatened completely to devour him. The expression is בְּחַרְבנֵֹי (like בעשׂ ן in Psa_37:20;
Psa_102:4), without כ , inasmuch as the fears which burn fiercely within him even to his heart
and, as it were, scorch him up, he directly calls the droughts of summer. The בְּ is the Beth of the
state or condition, in connection with which the change, i.e., degeneration (Job_20:14), took
place; for mutare in aliquid is expressed by ל „ הָפַ . The ל (which Saadia and others have mistaken)
in לְשַׁדִּי is part of the root; לָשָׁ ד (from לָשַׁד , Arab. lsd, to suck), inflected after the analogy of גָּמָל
and the like, signifies succus. In the summer-heat of anxiety his vital moisture underwent a
change: it burned and dried up. Here the music becomes louder and does its part in depicting
these torments of the awakened conscience in connection with a heart that still remains

22. unbroken. In spite of this διάψαλμα, however, the historical connection still retains sufficient
influence to give – אוֹדִיעֲ the force of the imperfect (cf. Psa_30:9): “I made known my sin and my
guilt did I not cover up ( כִּסָּה used here as in Pro_27:13; Job_31:33); I made the resolve: I will
confess my transgressions to the Lord ( הוֹדָה = חִתְוַדָּה , 1eh_1:6; 1eh_9:2; elsewhere construed with
the accusative, vid., Pro_28:13) - then Thou forgavest,” etc. Hupfeld is inclined to place אמרתי
before חטאתי אודיעך , by which אודיעך and אודה would become futures; but ועוני לא כסיתי sounds like
an assertion of a fact, not the statement of an intention, and ואתה נשׂאת is the natural continuation
of the אמרתי which immediately precedes. The form ואתה נשׂאת is designedly used instead of .וַתִּשָּׂ א
Simultaneously with his confession of sin, made fide supplice, came also the absolution: then Thou
forgavest the guilt ( עָוֹן , misdeed, as a deed and also as a matter of fact, i.e., guilt contracted, and
penance or punishment, cf. Lam_4:6; Zec_14:19) of my sin. Vox nondum est in ore, says
Augustine, et vulnus sanatur in corde. The סלה here is the antithesis of the former one. There we
have a shrill lament over the sinner who tortures himself in vain, here the clear tones of joy at the
blessed experience of one who pours forth his soul to God - a musical Yea and Amen to the great
truth of justifying grace.
6. Weatherhead, “David had the second of two possible reactions to guilt. The first is conscious
acceptance of guilt which leads to depression. Depression is a negative state of mind, but it is a
blessing if we respond to it properly, for it is a warning for us to deal with our problem. If we do,
we can be well soon. If we take the second route it is a long battle in which we suffer more and
always lose. David took this route of repression in which you get over it and push it out of mind.
From there is develops into a physical problem.
The first approach is not to admit it, but to prevent it from being known. David went into action
to get Uriah to feel it was his child. That failed and so he got him killed so he could marry her
quick and nobody would know. It was a cover up all the way, and he did everything to keep the
truth unknown. Confession is not the first approach. That is a measure of desperation after all
your own plans to cover up do not work, and they never do for even if nobody else knows, you do,
and you are the one who suffers the guilt. Which is best, to confess right away or to wait until
your conscience plagues you and you feel rotten? Repentance is more real when you are fully
aware of the folly of your sin. It is time to talk and not be silent right away.
My body wasted away-here is a clear case of psychosomatic illness caused by guilt. David began
to lose weight and probably did not eat right because he lost his appetite. The link of sin and
sickness is clear in the Bible-James 5:16-17. There is no cure in a pill or change of climate, for
the only cure is forgiveness. This is the healing ministry that goes beyond medicine. The two are
not in conflict but are partners. They deal with two different causes for the same thing.
7. Calvin, “When I kept silence, my bones wasted away. Here David confirms, by his own
experience, the doctrine which he had laid down; namely, that when humbled under the hand of
God, he felt that nothing was so miserable as to be deprived of his favor: by which he intimates,
that this truth cannot be rightly understood until God has tried us with a feeling of his anger. 1or
does he speak of a mere ordinary trial, but declares that he was entirely subdued with the
extremest rigour. And certainly, the sluggishness of our flesh, in this matter, is no less wonderful
than its hardihood. If we are not drawn by forcible means, we will never hasten to seek
reconciliation to God so earnestly as we ought. In fine, the inspired writer teaches us by his own
example, that we never perceive how great a happiness it is to enjoy the favor of God, until we
have thoroughly felt from grievous conflicts with inward temptations, how terrible the anger of
God is. He adds, that whether he was silent, or whether he attempted to heighten his grief by his

23. crying and roaring, 661 his bones waxed old; in other words, his whole strength withered away.
From this it follows, that whithersoever the sinner may turn himself, or however he may be
mentally affected, his malady is in no degree lightened, nor his welfare in any degree promoted,
until he is restored to the favor of God. It often happens that those are tortured with the sharpest
grief who gnaw the bit, and inwardly devour their sorrow, and keep it enclosed and shut up
within, without discovering it, although afterwards they are seized as with sudden madness, and
the force of their grief bursts forth with the greater impetus the longer it has been restrained. By
the term silence, David means neither insensibility nor stupidity, but that feeling which lies
between patience and obstinacy, and which is as much allied to the vice as to the virtue. For his
bones were not consumed with age, but with the dreadful torments of his mind. His silence,
however, was not the silence of hope or obedience, for it brought no alleviation of his misery.
8. Spurgeon, “Verse 3-5. David now gives us his own experience: no instructor is so efficient as
one who testifies to what he has personally known and felt. He writes well who like the spider
spins his matter out of his own bowels.
Verse 3. When I kept silence. When through neglect I failed to confess, or through despair dared
not do so, my bones, those solid pillars of my frame, the stronger portions of my bodily
constitution, waxed old, began to decay with weakness, for my grief was so intense as to sap my
health and destroy my vital energy. What a killing thing is sin! It is a pestilent disease! A fire in
the bones! While we smother our sin it rages within, and like a gathering wound swells horribly
and torments terribly. Through my roaring all the day long. He was silent as to confession, but
not as to sorrow. Horror at his great guilt, drove David to incessant laments, until his voice was
no longer like the articulate speech of man, but so full of sighing and groaning, that it resembled
to hoarse roaring of a wounded beast. 1one knows the pangs of conviction but those who have
endured them. The rack, the wheel, the flaming fagot are ease compared with the Tophet which a
guilty conscience kindles within the breast: better suffer all the diseases which flesh is heir to,
than lie under the crushing sense of the wrath of almighty God. The Spanish inquisition with all
its tortures was nothing to the inquest which conscience holds within the heart.
9. Treasury of David, “Verse 3. My bones waxed old. God sports not at the sins of his elect, but
outwardly doth deal with them more hardly, and chastise them more rigorously than he doth the
reprobate. David's troubles and pains were partly external, partly internal: external I call those
that were cast on his body; internal upon his conscience. And in the body were torments and
vexations, seizing sometimes on his flesh -- which was less painful -- sometimes on his bones,
which was more grievous, yea, almost intolerable, as experience teacheth. And this is God's just
recompense; when we bestow our strength on sin, God abates it, and so weakens us. Samson
spent his strength on Delilah, but to what weakness was he brought! Let us, therefore, learn, that
God hath given us bones and the strength thereof for another use, that is, to serve him, and not
waste or be prodigal of them in the devil's service. Archibald Symson.
Verse 3. My bones waxed old. By bones, the strength of the body, the inward strength and vigour
of the soul is meant. The conscience of sin, and the terror of judgment doth break the heart of a
true penitent, so long as he beholdeth his sin deserving death, his judge ready to pronounce the
sentence of it, hell open to receive him for it, and the evil angels, God's executioners, at hand to
hurry him to it. Samuel Page, in "David's Broken Heart," 1646.
Verse 3. My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. David here not only mourns
for sin as a man, but he roars, as it were, like a pained beast. He seems fitter for a wilderness to
cry out, than for a secret chamber to weep in; at other times he can "water his couch" in the

24. night, now he "roars" all the day long; at other times, "his moisture is dried," now his "bones,"
the pillars of his house shake and wax old. Alexander Carmichael, 1677.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.[b]
1. Barnes, “For day and night - I found no relief even at night. The burden was constant, and was
insupportable.
Thy hand was heavy upon me - Thy hand seemed to press me down. It weighed upon me. See
Job_13:21; Psa_39:10. It was the remembrance of guilt that troubled him, but that seemed to him
to be the hand of God. It was God who brought that guilt to his recollection; and God “kept” the
recollection of it before his mind, and on his heart and conscience, so that he could not throw it
off.
My moisture - The word used here - לשׁד leshad - means properly “juice” or “sap,” as in a tree;
and then, “vital-moisture,” or, as we should say, “life-blood.” Then it comes to denote vigour or
strength.
Is turned into the drought of summer - Is, as it were, all dried up. I am - that is, I was at the
time referred to - like plants in the heat of summer, in a time of drought, when all moisture of
rain or dew is withheld, and when they dry up and wither. 1othing could more strikingly
represent the distress of mind under long-continued conviction of sin, when all strength and
vigour seem to waste away.
2. The hand of God is light and lifting and full of pleasure when you are free from guilt-Psa.
16:11. But it gets heavy when you are full of guilt. There is no relief even in sleep, for day and
night he felt the burden. He was living in a spiritual desert where the flow of living water was cut
off, and he began to dry up. People can be like plants and very quickly shrivel up without
moisture. Lesser sins bring less oppression, but even more mild guilt is a thorn in the flesh. We
feel guilt for what we do with our time. The sick feel guilty for being a burden, and the well for
escaping what others must suffer. We feel guilt for letters not written and feel guilty we cannot
afford things, or even because we can.
3. Gill, “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me,.... Meaning the afflicting hand of God,
which is not joyous, but grievous, and heavy to be borne; especially without his gracious
presence, and the discoveries of his love: this continued night and day, without any intermission;
and may design some violent distemper; perhaps a fever; since it follows,

25. my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. That is, the radical moisture in him was
almost dried up, as brooks in the summer season; his body was parched, as it were, with the
burning heat of the disease; or with an apprehension of the wrath of God under it, or both: and
so he continued until be was brought to a true sense of sin, and an acknowledgment of it, when he
had the discoveries of pardoning love, as is expressed in Psa_32:5. The Septuagint and Vulgate
Latin versions read, "I am turned into distress, through a thorn being fixed"; and so Apollinarius
paraphrases the words,
"I am become miserable, because thorns are fixed in my skin;''
4. Calvin, “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. In this verse he explains more fully
whence such heavy grief arose; namely, because he felt the hand of God to be sore against him.
The greatest of all afflictions is to be so heavily pressed with the hand of God, that the sinner feels
he has to do with a Judge whose indignation and severity involve in them many deaths, besides
eternal death. David, accordingly, complains that his moisture was dried up, not merely from
simply meditating on his sore afflictions, but because he had discovered their cause and spring.
The whole strength of men fails when God appears as a Judge and humbles and lays them
prostrate by exhibiting the signs of his displeasure. Then is fulfilled the saying of Isaiah,
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.” (Isaiah
40:7)
The Psalmist, moreover, tells us, that it was no common chastisement by which he had been
taught truly to fear the divine wrath; for the hand of the Lord ceased not to be heavy upon him
both day and night. From a child, indeed, he had been inspired with the fear of God, by the secret
influence of the Holy Spirit, and had been taught in true religion and godliness by sound doctrine
and instruction. And yet so insufficient was this instruction for his attainment of this wisdom,
that he had to be taught again like a new beginner in the very midst of his course. Yea, although
he had now been long accustomed to mourn over his sins, he was every day anew reduced to this
exercise, which teaches us, how long it is ere men recover themselves when once they have fallen;
and also how slow they are to obey until God, from time to time, redouble their stripes, and
increase them from day to day. Should any one ask concerning David, whether he had become
callous under the stripes which he well knew were inflicted on him by the hand of God, the
context furnishes the answer; namely, that he was kept down and fettered by perplexing griefs,
and distracted with lingering torments, until he was well subdued and made meek, which is the
first sign of seeking a remedy. And this again teaches us, that it is not without cause that the
chastisements by which God seems to deal cruelly with us are repeated, and his hand made heavy
against us, until our fierce pride, which we know to be un-tameable, unless subdued with the
heaviest stripes, is humbled.
The translation of this verse in our English Bible is, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old
through my roaring all the day long;” on which Street observes, “I must own I do not understand
how a man can be said to keep silence who roars all the day long.” Accordingly, instead of When
I kept silence, he reads, While I am lost in thought; observing that, the verb חרש , in the Hiphil
conjugation, signifies to ponder, to consider, to be deep in thought.” But according to the
translation and exposition of Calvin, there is no inconsistency between the first and the second
clause of the verse. To avoid the apparent contradiction of being at once silent and yet roaring all
the day long, Dr Boothroyd, instead of roaring, reads pangs.

26. 5. Spurgeon, “Verse 3-5. David now gives us his own experience: no instructor is so efficient as
one who testifies to what he has personally known and felt. He writes well who like the spider
spins his matter out of his own bowels.
Verse 4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. God's finger can crush us -- what must
his hand be, and that pressing heavily and continuously! Under terrors of conscience, men have
little rest by night, for the grim thoughts of the day dog them to their chambers and haunt their
dreams, or else they lie awake in a cold sweat of dread. God's hand is very helpful when it uplifts,
but it is awful when it presses down: better a world on the shoulder, like Atlas, than God's hand
on the heart, like David. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. The sap of his soul
was dried, and the body through sympathy appeared to be bereft of its needful fluids. The oil was
almost gone from the lamp of life, and the flame flickered as though it would soon expire.
Unconfessed transgression, like a fierce poison, dried up the fountain of the man's strength and
made him like a tree blasted by the lightning, or a plant withered by the scorching heat of a
tropical sun. Alas! for a poor soul when it has learned its sin but forgets its Saviour, it goes hard
with it indeed. Selah. It was time to change the tune, for the notes are very low in the scale, and
with such hard usage, the strings of the harp are out of order: the next verse will surely be set to
another key, or will rehearse a more joyful subject.
6. Treasury of David, “Verse 4. Thy hand. A correcting hand, whereby God scourges and buffets
his own children. 1ow the sense of God's power punishing or correcting, is called God's hand, as
1 Samuel 5:11. The hand of God was sore at Ekron, because of the ark; and a heavy hand in
resemblance, because when men smite they lay their hand heavier than ordinary. Hence, we may
note three points of doctrine: first, that all afflictions are God's hand; secondly, that God lays his
hand heavily often upon his dear children; thirdly, that God often continues his heavy hand night
and day on them. Thomas Taylor.
Verse 4. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Another meaning may be attributed
to these words. We may suppose the psalmist to be referring to spiritual drought. Charles H.
Bingham, B.A., in "Lectures on the Thirty-second Psalm," 1836.
Verse 4. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. The summer is from the middle of
August to the middle of 1ovember. The intensity of the heat is great, and almost intolerable ... Up
to the beginning or middle of September there are no showers, rain being as scarce in summer as
snow ... The dry grass of the fields sometimes takes fire, and produces desolating conflagrations,
and the parched earth is cleft and broken into chasms. John Eadie, D.D., LL.D., in Biblical
Cyclopaedia, 1868.
Verse 4. The drought of summer. Dr. Russell, in his account of the weather at Aleppo, which very
much resembles that of Judea, says that the verdure of the spring fades before the middle of May,
and before the end of that month the whole country puts on so parched and barren an aspect that
one would scarce think it capable of producing anything, there being but very few plants that
have vigour enough to resist the extreme heat. Thomas Harmer's "Observations," 1775.
Verse 4. The drought of summer. During the twelve years from 1846 to 1859 only two slight
showers fell in Jerusalem between the months of May and October. One fell in July, 1858,
another in June 1859. Dr. Whitty's "Water Supply of Jerusalem," quoted in Kitto's Cyclopaedia.
Verse 4. If God striketh those so sore whom he favoureth, how sharply and sore will he strike
them whom he favoureth not. Gregory.