John Calvin Commentary Psalms 25:11

"For thy name`s sake, O Jehovah, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." — Psalms 25:11 (ASV)

For your name’s sake, O Jehovah! As in the original text the copulative and is inserted between the two clauses of this verse, some think that the first clause is incomplete and that some word should be supplied. They then read these words, Be you merciful to my iniquity, etc., as a distinct sentence by itself.

And thus, according to their opinion, the sense would be: Lord, although I have not fully kept your covenant, yet do not on that account cease to show your kindness towards me; and so that my iniquity may not prevent your goodness from being extended towards me, graciously pardon it.

But I am rather of the opinion of others, who consider that the copulative is here, as it is in many other places, superfluous, so that the whole verse may form one connected sentence. As to the tense of the verb, there is also a diversity of opinion among interpreters.

Some render it in the past tense thus, You have been merciful, as if David here gives thanks to God because He had pardoned his sin. But the other interpretation, which is the one more generally received, is also the most correct: namely, that David, in order to obtain pardon, again resorts to the mercy of God as his only refuge.

The letter ו, vau, which is equivalent to and, often has the force of changing the tense in Hebrew verbs, so that the future tense is often taken in the sense of the optative.

Moreover, I connect this verse with the preceding one in this way: The prophet, having reflected that God is kind and faithful to those who serve Him, now examines his own heart. He acknowledges that he cannot be counted among their number unless God grants him the forgiveness of his sins. Therefore, he turns to prayer for pardon.

This is similar to Psalm 19:13, where, after speaking of the reward prepared for the faithful who keep the law, he instantly exclaims, Who can understand his errors? Accordingly, although David is not ignorant that God liberally promises to bestow on those who keep His covenant everything that pertains to a life of happiness, yet, at the same time, considering how far he still is from the perfect righteousness of the law, he does not rest his confidence upon it. Instead, he seeks a remedy for the manifold offenses of which he feels himself to be guilty.

And thus, so that God may count us among His servants, we should always come to Him, entreating Him, after David's example, in His fatherly loving-kindness, to bear with our infirmities. This is because, without the free remission of our sins, we have no reason to expect any reward for our works.

At the same time, let it be observed that to show more distinctly his complete dependence on the free grace of God, he expressly says, for your name’s sake. By this he means that God, as often as He is pleased to pardon His people, does so for no other reason than His own good pleasure, just as he had said a little before in the same verse, for your goodness’ sake.

He was also constrained, by considering the magnitude of his offense, to call upon the name of God. For he immediately adds, by way of confession, because my iniquity is great, or manifold (for the word רב, rab, can be translated in both ways).

It is as if he had said: My sins are indeed like a heavy burden that overwhelms me, so that their multitude or enormity might well deprive me of all hope of pardon. But, Lord, the infinite glory of Your name will not permit You to cast me off.