Psalms 32
What Happens in This Chapter
In this psalm, David tells how good it feels to be forgiven. He kept his sin secret for a while, and he felt sick and worn out. Then he told God what he had done, and God forgave him. He ends by telling others to trust God and to be glad.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
1How happy is the person whose wrong has been forgiven! God has covered over his sin.
"Blessed" here means happy, or well off, because of what God has done.
2Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
2How happy is the person the LORD does not blame for his sin! He is honest inside and hides nothing.
3When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
3When I stayed quiet about my sin, I felt weak and worn out. I groaned all day long.
4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
4Day and night I felt God's hand pressing hard on me. My strength dried up, like grass in the hot summer.
"Selah" appears at the end of verses 4, 5, and 7. It is a very old music word. Nobody today knows for sure what it meant.
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.
5Then I told God what I had done. I did not hide my sin. I said, "I will tell the LORD about my wrongs." And God forgave me.
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.
6So let everyone who loves God pray to him while he can be found. Then even when big troubles rise like a flood, they will not reach them.
7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
7You are my hiding place. You keep me safe from trouble. You put songs of rescue all around me.
8I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
8God says, "I will teach you the way you should go. I will watch over you and guide you."
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.
9Do not be like a horse or a mule, which cannot understand. They need a rope and a metal bar in the mouth to make them come.
A bit and bridle are the metal bar and straps put on a horse's head to steer it.
10Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
10People who do wrong will have many sorrows. But God's steady love wraps around the one who trusts him.
11Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
11Be glad because of the LORD! Sing, you who do what is right. Shout for joy, all you with honest hearts.
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