Every verse here opens — tap a number for what that one means.
1Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
9Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
11Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Commentary
Psalm 32, explained
What Psalm 32 is saying
Psalm 32, the second Penitential Psalm, is a wisdom-lament celebrating the blessedness of forgiveness. David describes the physical and psychological torment of unconfessed sin—'My bones wasted away; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer'—followed by the relief of confession. The psalm uses three Hebrew words for sin (pesha, transgression; chata'ah, sin; avon, iniquity) and three for forgiveness (nasa, forgiven; kasah, covered; lo chashav, not counted).
The background behind it
Attributed to David as a maskil (instructional psalm), its autobiographical tone connects naturally to David's sin with Bathsheba and Nathan's confrontation (2 Samuel 11–12). Paul cites verses 1–2 in Romans 4:7–8 as evidence that justification is by faith, not works.
Themes running underneath
The psalm establishes confession as the pathway to joy, inverting the expected relationship between confession and shame. The threefold vocabulary of sin matched by threefold vocabulary of forgiveness demonstrates comprehensive divine grace. God becomes a 'hiding place' (seter) for the very one who tried to hide sin.
Why it still matters
Psalm 32 directly addresses the exhausting weight of carrying unconfessed sin and presents honesty with God as the path to freedom. Its beatitude structure ('Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven') frames forgiveness as the foundation of human flourishing.
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.