I have turned to Psalm 51 many times over the years. This weathered page of my bible gives me language to borrow to help my heart repent. When I have sinned again. When I have completely blown it. When temptation claims the battle and it seems the night has won. The longer I have prayed Psalm 51, the greater my desire has grown to sing it.
The challenge with singing the psalms is often that Hebrew poetry and the English metrical system do not easily shake hands. Hebrew poetry is about rhythm, sound, and the practice of parallelism stacking ideas line by line. English hymnody is about meter, rhyme, poetry, and sing-ability. So, a metrical version of any psalm requires a measure of adaptation and interpretation. It attempts to keep one eye on the original text while keeping the other on the way we understand hymns today. All the while considering how each words fits on the lips and sounds in the ear.
After writing 40,000 words on Psalm 51 in prose, my hope was to conclude my book Create in Me a Clean Heart with a new metrical version that would return the reader’s thoughts to its original medium: the lyrics to a song. I began fitting the text to 8.7.8.7., which is the crown of meters. As I repeated the opening two lines, Stuart Townend’s melody for “How Deep the Father’s Love” kept coming to mind. He was kind enough to grant permission to publish this text with his original tune, and for that I am grateful. This version doesn’t say everything but it says what it is able.
My prayer is that this version of Psalm 51 would lend believers language to sing when we need it most. When we have sinned. When we have completely blown it. When temptation claims the battle and it seems the night has won. Perhaps someone may even find themselves singing this adaptation of an ancient song and find their heart strangely warmed for the first time by the truth that the blood of Jesus Christ can make the sinner spotless.
“O God, Be Merciful to Me” (Psalm 51)
O God, be merciful to me,
Found on your great compassion.
Your steadfast love my only plea,
Blot out all my transgressions.
No tears could wash me from within,
No works could make me righteous.
But oh, the blood of Jesus Christ
Can make this sinner spotless.
Against you only have I sinned
And scorned the King of heaven.
From youth my pride and lust have been
Too oft my heart's affection.
Create in me a heart so clean,
Renew a steadfast spirit.
Restore the joy that once had been
Found only in your presence.
A broken heart you have required,
And this all I can offer.
O cleanse my heart with holy fire,
And form it as an altar.
Then I will tell of boundless love,
Of mercy beyond measure.
For these I've found in you, my God,
All praise to you forever.
Free lyric sheets are available here in English, Spanish, Indonesian, Italian, French, and Malagasy. Thank you to our friends at the Getty Music Foundation for their work on these translations.
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