Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 51:11

"Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy Spirit from me." — Psalms 51:11 (ASV)

Cast me not away. —This phrase is used to describe the formal rejection of Israel by the God of the covenant (2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 17:20; 2 Kings 24:20; Jeremiah 7:15). Its use here not only confirms the explanation in the notes above, but also argues in favor of understanding the whole psalm as referring to the community.

Take not your holy spirit. —Commentators have discussed whether this means the spirit of office given to the king on his anointing (1 Samuel 16:13), or of grace, and Calvinists and Lutherans have made the text a battleground of controversy. Plainly, as the parallelism shows, the petition is equivalent to a prayer against rejection from divine favor, and should not be pressed into any doctrinal discussion.