Psalm 51:4

The context

Psalm 51 is a penitential prayer. Its heading ties it to Nathan's visit and to David's sin concerning Bathsheba. The psalm moves from a plea for mercy, through confession and a request for cleansing, to a prayer for a clean heart and the restoration of joy. Verse 4 states the ground of the confession.

What it establishes

The psalmist locates the gravity of sin in its offense against God. He does not deny that others were harmed; the heading and the story make that impossible. What the verse does is name the primary party against whom the wrong was done.

What it does not establish

"Only" is not a denial of harm to others. Read against the psalm's own setting, the line states that sin is first an offense against God. Taking it as a reason to minimize damage done to people inverts the psalm, which is a confession, not a defense.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• If God wanted to forgive sin, He's all-powerful — He could just forgive it. Instead He sent His Son to be killed. That's evil.
• How can Hell be eternal when people commit only a finite number of sins?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.