Psalms 51:3

“For I acknowledge my transgressions, etc.] 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 <193205>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 burden to him: for though God had put away sin out of his own sight, so that he would not condemn him for it, and he should not die; notwithstanding as yet it was not caused to pass from David, or the…”

“For . . . before me--Conviction precedes forgiveness; and, as a gift of God, is a plea for it (Sa2 12:13; Psa 32:5; Jo1 1:9).”

“For I acknowledge my transgressions - literally, I know, or make known. That is, he knew that he was a sinner, and he did not seek to cloak or conceal that fact. He came with the knowledge of it himself; he was willing to make acknowledgment of it before God. There was no attempt to conceal it; to excuse it. Compare the notes at Psalms 32:5. The word ““for”” does not imply that he referred to his willingness to confess his sins as an act of merit, but it indicates a state of mind which was necessary to forgiveness, and without which he could not hope for pardon. And my sin is ever before me - That is, It is now constantly before my mind. It had not been so until Nathan brought it vividly to…”

“51:3-6 The psalmist accepts the consequences of his sin against God. He knows that there is nothing good in him unless God renews his life.”

“For I: Psa 32:5, Psa 38:18; Lev 26:40, Lev 26:41; Neh 9:2; Job 33:27; Pro 28:13; Luk 15:18-21 my sin: Psa 40:12; Isa 59:12; Jer 3:25 Psalms 51:4”

“Substantiation of the prayer by the consideration, that his sense of sin is more than superficial, and that he is ready to make a penitential confession. True penitence is not a dead knowledge of sin committed, but a living sensitive consciousness of it ( Isa 59:12), to which it is ever present as a matter and ground of unrest and pain. This penitential sorrow, which pervades the whole man, is, it is true, no merit that wins mercy or favour, but it is the condition, without which it is impossible for any manifestation of favour to take place. Such true consciousness of sin contemplates sin, of whatever kind it may be, directly as sin against God, and in its ultimate ground as sin against Him…”