Psalms 51:12
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with a willing spirit.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Give me back the joy of your salvation; let a free spirit be my support.
Webster's Revision
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
World English Bible
Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation: and uphold me with a free spirit.
Clarke's Psalms 51:12 Bible Commentary
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation - This is an awful prayer. And why? Because it shows he once Had the joy of God's salvation; and had Lost it by sin!
Uphold me with thy free spirit - Prop me up; support me with a princely spirit, one that will not stoop to a mean or base act. See on Psalm 51:10 (note).
Barnes's Psalms 51:12 Bible Commentary
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation - literally, "Cause the joy of thy salvation to return." This implies that he had formerly known what was the happiness of being a friend of God, and of having a hope of salvation. That joy had been taken from him by his sin. He had lost his peace of mind. His soul was sad and cheerless. Sin always produces this effect. The only way to enjoy religion is to do that which is right; the only way to secure the favor of God is to obey his commands; the only way in which we can have comforting evidence that we are his children is by doing that which shall be pleasing to him: 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7, 1 John 3:10. The path of sin is a dark path, and in that path neither hope nor comfort can be found.
And uphold me with thy free spirit - That is, Sustain me; keep me from falling. The words ""with thy"" are not in the original, and there is nothing there to indicate that by the word "spirit" the psalmist refers to the Spirit of God, though it should be observed that there is nothing "against" such a supposition. The word rendered "free" - נדיב nâdı̂yb - means properly "willing, voluntary, ready, prompt;" 1 Chronicles 28:21; Exodus 35:5. Then the word means liberal, generous, noble-minded; Isaiah 32:5, Isaiah 32:8; Proverbs 17:7, Proverbs 17:26. It would seem here to mean "a "willing" spirit," referring to David's own mind or spirit; and the prayer is, that God would uphold or sustain him "in" a "willing" spirit or state of mind; that is, a state of mind in which he would he "willing" and "ready" to obey all the commands of God, and to serve him faithfully. What he prayed for was grace and strength that he might be "kept" in a state of mind which would be constant and firm Psalm 51:10, and a state in which he would always be found "willing" and ready to keep the commandments of God. It is a proper object of prayer by all that they may be always kept in a state of mind in which they will be willing to do all that God requires of them, and to bear all that may be laid on them.
Wesley's Psalms 51:12 Bible Commentary
51:12 The joy - The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation.Free - Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God's precepts.