Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 51:14

"Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; [And] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." — Psalms 51:14 (ASV)

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God – Margin, as in Hebrew, “bloods.” So it is rendered by the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. Luther renders it “blood-guilt.” DeWette, “from blood.” Compare to Isaiah 4:4.

The “plural” form – “bloods” – is used probably to mark “intensity,” or to denote “great” guilt. The allusion is to the guilt of shedding blood, or taking life , and the reference is undoubtedly to his guilt in causing Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, to be slain (2 Samuel 11:14–17). It was this which weighed upon his conscience and filled him with alarm. He prayed that the guilt of this might be taken away, that he might have peace.

The “fact” of the shedding of that blood could never be changed; the real “criminality” of that fact would always remain the same; the “crime” itself could never be declared to be innocence; his own personal “ill desert” for having caused the shedding of that blood would always remain; but the sin might be pardoned, and his soul could thus find peace.

The penalty might be remitted, and, though guilty, he might be assured of the divine favor.

He could not, indeed, repair the evil to Uriah – for “he” had gone beyond the power of David for good or for evil – but he could do much to express his sense of the wrong. He could do much to save others from a similar course; he could do much to benefit society by keeping others from the like guilt. He could not, indeed, recall Uriah from the grave and repair the evil which he had done to “him,” but he might save others from such a crime, and thus preserve many a useful life from the effects of unrestrained guilty passions.

We cannot, indeed, by penitence recall those whom we have murdered; we cannot restore purity to those whom we have seduced; we cannot restore faith to the young man whom we may have made a skeptic; but we may do much to restrain others from sin, and much to benefit the world even when we have been guilty of wrongs that cannot be repaired.

You God of my salvation – On whom I am dependent for salvation; who are alone the source of salvation to me.

And my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness – Compare to the notes at Psalms 35:28.