Psalms Chapter 51 verse 5 Holy Bible
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.
read chapter 51 in ASV
Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth.
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Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
read chapter 51 in DARBY
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
read chapter 51 in KJV
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
read chapter 51 in WBT
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.
read chapter 51 in WEB
Lo, in iniquity I have been brought forth, And in sin doth my mother conceive me.
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 5-12. - The prayer now makes a stride in advance. It has been hitherto for the first step in justification - the wiping out of past transgressions. It is now for restoration, for a renewal of spiritual life, for a return to God's favour, and to the spiritual joy involved in it. First, however, an additional confession is made (vers. 5, 6). Not only have I committed acts of sin (vers. 1-4), but sin is thoroughly ingrained into my nature. I was conceived in it; I was brought forth in it; only the strongest remedies can cleanse me from it (ver. 7). But cleansing alone is not enough. I need renewal (ver. 10); I need thy Holy Spirit (ver. 11); I crave, above all, the sense of a restoration to thy favour - a return to the old feelings of "joy and gladness" (ver. 8), even "the joy of thy salvation" (ver. 12). Verse 5. - Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; rather, in iniquity was I brought forth. And in sin did my mother conceive me. It is doubtless true, as Professor Cheyne says, that "the Old Testament contains no theory of the origin of sin" - no formulated doctrine on the subject. But the fact of congenital depravity is stated, not only here, but also in Job 14:4; Psalm 58:3; it is also implied in Isaiah 43:27 and Hosea 6:7.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) Behold, I was shapen . . .--Better, Behold, I was born in iniquity.The later rabbis, combining this verse with the mystery hanging over the origin and name of David's mother, represent him as born in adultery. (See Stanley, Jewish Church, chap. ii., p. 46, Note.) The word rendered conceived is certainly one generally used of animal desire. (The marginal warm me is erroneous.) But the verse is only a statement of the truth of experience so constantly affirmed in Scripture of hereditary corruption and the innate proneness to sin in every child of man. The argument for a personal origin to the psalm from this verse seems strong; but in Psalm 129:1, and frequently, the community is personified as an individual growing from youth to age, and so may here speak of its far-back idolatrous ancestry as the mother who conceived it in sin.
