Psalms 51

Which worship songs are based on Psalms 51?

  1. Cleaned-up Heart — ApologetiX (2020) Psalms 51:1-19

    The song explicitly identifies Psalm 51 and connects its plea for inner cleansing with David's remorse following Nathan's confrontation. Its central image of a cleansed heart particularly reflects Psalm 51:10.

  2. Erase — Zahna (2022) Psalms 51:1-2

    The combined imagery of transgression, bloodguilt, and cleansing closely echoes David's penitential appeal for God to remove sin and purify him. The song similarly presents moral guilt as a stain requiring cleansing rather than mere emotional relief.

  3. Search Me, Lord — Donnie McClurkin (2016) Psalms 51:1-7

    The combined language of blotting out sin, washing away iniquity, inward cleansing, and becoming whiter than snow unmistakably echoes David's confession and plea for purification.

  4. Father Please — OBED (2025) Psalms 51:1

    The song explicitly identifies Psalm 51 and adopts its opening appeal for God’s mercy. Its confessional posture also reflects David’s penitential prayer.

  5. LNB — Anendlessocean (2024) Psalms 51:1

    The description of God erasing the speaker's transgression closely follows David's plea for mercy and cleansing in this penitential psalm.

  6. Be Gracious (Psalm 51) — Aaron Shust (2023) Psalms 51:1

    The song closely reproduces David's appeals for mercy, cleansing, inward renewal, restored joy, and a willing spirit from Psalm 51. Its title and sustained correspondence with the psalm make the connection unmistakable.

  7. Great Forgiver — Chris Tomlin (2022) Psalms 51:2

    The singer's admission that he cannot cleanse himself and needs God to remove his sin closely reflects David's prayer for divine washing and purification.

  8. Wash Me Clean — Josh Garrels (2020) Psalms 51:2

    The opening prayer closely follows David's requests for purification from iniquity and for a cleansed heart. The combined language of washing, iniquity, cleansing, and inward renewal makes the connection specific rather than merely thematic.

  9. THE SON OF MAN WILL DELIVER — CHANGETHEWXRLD (2023) Psalms 51:2

    The repeated request for cleansing from sin closely echoes David's penitential appeal for God to remove his guilt and impurity.

  10. Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice! — Brian Sauvé (2025) Psalms 51:5

    The lyrics reflect the concept of being born into sin, echoing the sentiment found in Psalm 51:5, which speaks of sin being inherent from birth.

  11. Outside Looking In — Neal Morse (2007) Psalms 51:5

    The speaker treats his flawed condition as something present from birth, later identifying his condition with sin. The accompanying Psalm citation makes the connection to inherited sinfulness specific, although the speaker's fatalism differs from the psalm's plea for cleansing and renewal.

  12. I Am — Kirk Franklin (2011) Psalms 51:5

    The opening confession closely adapts the psalm's description of sinfulness extending back to birth and conception.

  13. God and I Know — ApologetiX (2022) Psalms 51:7

    The combination of washing away sin and becoming whiter than snow closely paraphrases David's plea for cleansing in this penitential psalm.

  14. Child King — ApologetiX (2013) Psalms 51:7

    The description of cleansing from sin through a comparison with snow closely adapts this verse’s distinctive comparative wording. The song applies the cleansing image to Christ’s atoning death.

  15. Mothers of the Night — Delirious? (2008) Psalms 51:7

    The repeated request for washing and cleansing beyond snow closely adapts this verse. The surrounding confession of guilt reinforces the psalm's penitential context.

  16. Purify — Beth Croft (2014) Psalms 51:7

    The prayer for washing that produces snow-white purity closely adapts Psalm 51:7. Its accompanying request for inward purification reinforces the connection to the renewal of the heart in verse 10, rather than Isaiah 1:18's comparison of scarlet sins with snow.

  17. ALIVE — Forrest Frank (2024) Psalms 51:7

    The description of God cleansing the soul to snowy whiteness closely echoes David's plea for divine washing and purification from sin.

  18. Lord, I'm Coming Home — The Louvin Brothers (2021) Psalms 51:7

    The plea to be washed and made whiter than snow closely follows David’s request for complete cleansing from sin.

  19. Fountain — Chris Renzema (2018) Psalms 51:8

    The petition for damaged bones to move with joy closely reworks the psalmist's plea that bones crushed under judgment might rejoice again.

  20. Guns / Napoleon — John Mark McMillan (2014) Psalms 51:8

    The closing association of fractured bones with singing closely adapts the psalmist’s request that the bones God has crushed might rejoice. The song places that distinctive image within the experience of costly love rather than explicitly invoking David’s repentance.

  21. Trinity — Jennifer Knapp (2008) Psalms 51:9-10

    The prayer for inward cleansing and renewed steadfastness directly reproduces verse 10. The later request that God turn away from the speaker's sins also closely echoes verse 9.

  22. Murdered Son — John Mark McMillan (2012) Psalms 51:9

    The description of God concealing human faults from his own sight closely adapts the psalmist's request that God hide his face from the psalmist's sins and erase his iniquities.

  23. On My Way to You — MercyMe (2008) Psalms 51:10

    The second verse closely adapts the psalmist's prayer for God to create inward purity and bring spiritual renewal.

  24. Hosanna — Brooke Fraser (2008) Psalms 51:10

    The bridge's request that God cleanse the singer's heart closely adapts David's petition for inward purification.

  25. Hosanna — Christy Nockels (2009) Psalms 51:10

    The bridge's request that God make the singer's heart clean closely adapts this verse's petition for inward cleansing. The connection is to the prayer's wording, not an explicit retelling of David's wrongdoing.

  26. Father — Amy Grant (2007) Psalms 51:10

    The prayer for God to create inward purity closely adapts the psalmist's request for a clean heart, expressing the desired transformation as pure, God-given love.

  27. I Just Love You - Live — Gateway Worship (2022) Psalms 51:10

    The song combines Psalm 51's requests for a clean heart with its description of a contrite heart as the sacrifice God receives.

  28. Light a Fire — David Leonard (2022) Psalms 51:10-12

    The song closely adopts David's requests for restored joy, inward purity, and a willing spirit. These combined petitions unmistakably draw from the central prayer of repentance and renewal in Psalm 51.

  29. Worship from a Wretch — Front Porch Step (2017) Psalms 51:10

    The appeal for God to create a clean heart closely follows David’s prayer for inward cleansing and spiritual renewal.

  30. All Of Me/All Of You — John Van Deusen (2025) Psalms 51:10

    The first verse directly adopts David's prayer for God to create inner moral purity, fitting the song's confession and desire for transformation.

  31. Light a Fire (Great Are You Lord - live) — David Leonard (2022) Psalms 51:10-12

    The opening petitions closely reproduce David’s requests for renewed joy in salvation, a clean heart, and a willing spirit. The combination of these distinctive requests makes Psalm 51 the song’s clearest scriptural source.

  32. Belong — Ryan Ofei & Eugy Official (2025) Psalms 51:11

    The plea to not have God's spirit taken away directly references Psalm 51:11, where David asks for the Holy Spirit to remain with him, highlighting a deep yearning for divine presence.

  33. Christ Is Enough — Hillsong Worship (2013) Psalms 51:12

    The song closely adapts the Psalm's distinctive expression linking joy with God's salvation. It presents that joy as found in Christ rather than repeating the Psalm's request for its restoration.

  34. I Surrender All (All to Jesus) — Casting Crowns (2013) Psalms 51:12

    The song reproduces the Psalm's distinctive phrase describing the joy of God's salvation. It expresses that joy as presently experienced rather than asking for its restoration.

  35. Old Church Basement — Elevation Worship (2021) Psalms 51:12

    The returning joy associated with salvation closely paraphrases David's plea for God to restore the joy of His salvation.

  36. Hear It From Me — Bebo Norman (2008) Psalms 51:16-17

    The bridge's contrast between magnificent offerings and brokenhearted devotion echoes the psalm's identification of a contrite heart, rather than external sacrifice, as an offering God accepts.

  37. Don't Bring Me Cows — ApologetiX (2009) Psalms 51:16-17

    The final verse redirects sacrifice toward humility and contrition, closely adapting the psalm's contrast between external offerings and a broken spirit and contrite heart.

  38. Simple — Hannah Kerr (2019) Psalms 51:16-17

    The song contrasts an inadequate religious offering with the heart God truly desires, closely reflecting David's declaration that sacrifice cannot replace sincere inward surrender and repentance.

  39. Find You on My Knees — Kari Jobe (2012) Psalms 51:17

    The song presents brokenness as the only offering the singer can bring to God, echoing the psalm's identification of a broken spirit and contrite heart as acceptable sacrifice. The connection concerns the offering imagery, not an explicit retelling of David's repentance.

  40. Any Other Way — Tenth Avenue North (2010) Psalms 51:17

    The bridge closely adapts the psalm's assurance that God does not reject a repentant, broken heart, presenting it as God's direct promise to the listener.

  41. Pass Me Not — MAYIA (2025) Psalms 51:17

    The chorus directly invokes the psalm's assurance that God does not reject a broken and contrite heart.

  42. At Your Altar (Live) — UPPERROOM & Raffi Greco & Sarahbeth Smith (2025) Psalms 51:17

    The opening identifies a broken spirit and contrite heart as the sacrifice God desires, closely reproducing the language and sacrificial contrast of this psalm.

Psalms 51 (King James Version)

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.