John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 51:3
For I acknowledge my transgressions ,.... Before God and man. Acknowledgment of sin is what the Lord requires, and promises forgiveness upon, and therefore is used here as a plea for it; and moreover the psalmist had done so before, and had succeeded in this way, which must encourage him to take the same course again; see Psalm 32:5 ; and my sin is ever before me ; staring him in the face; gnawing upon his conscience, and filling him with remorse and distress; so that his life was a... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 51:1-6
The title has reference to a very sad story, that of David's fall. But, though he fell, he was not utterly cast down, for God graciously upheld him and raised him up. 1. The sin which, in this psalm, he laments, was the folly and wickedness he committed with his neighbour's wife, a sin not to be spoken of, nor thought of, without detestation. His debauching of Bathsheba was the inlet to all the other sins that followed; it was as the letting forth of water. This sin of David's is recorded for... read more