טַהֲרֵֽנִי׃ (ṭa·hă·rê·nî) in Psalms 51:2: Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine singular | first person common singular
טַהֲרֵֽנִי׃ (ṭa·hă·rê·nî) in Psalms 51:2
Source Word
The BSB+ row for Psalms 51:2 links the English rendering "and cleanse me" with טַהֲרֵֽנִי׃, Strong's H2891, and the parsing label V-Piel-Imp-ms | 1cs.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form sharpens the verse as a personal plea. The speaker is not discussing cleansing from a distance; he is asking God to cleanse him.
How To Communicate It
When teaching Psalm 51:2, use this form to help readers hear confession as a dependent prayer for God to act, not a plan for self-cleansing.
What Not To Say
- Grammar should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make the Piel stem alone carry the whole weight of the psalmist's repentance.
- Do not reduce cleansing in Psalm 51 to outward ritual when the psalm names transgression, iniquity, and sin.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Piel
Imperative
Second
Masculine
Singular
First person common singular
Piel imperative, masculine singular, with first common singular suffix
The imperative gives the line the force of direct petition: the psalmist asks God to cleanse him, not merely to describe cleansing.
This form carries the request that God cleanse the speaker within a confession of sin and plea for mercy.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The psalmist as the one asking God for cleansing
The imperative is addressed to God and belongs to the prayer sequence that asks for mercy, washing, and cleansing.
It makes cleansing a requested act of God toward the speaker. The attached first-person suffix keeps the petition personal: cleanse me.
The form does not by itself define the whole doctrine of cleansing, nor does the Piel stem alone prove how deep the cleansing must be.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The imperative and first-person suffix make the cleansing plea direct, personal, and central to Psalm 51:2.
Prayer imperative with first-person object suffix. asks God to cleanse the speaker rather than describing self-cleansing. Attached to the psalmist as the one asking God for cleansing. Governed by the mercy, washing, and cleansing petition in Psalm 51:2. The imperative has petition force in prayer, and the suffix identifies the speaker as the recipient.
Who is asking for cleansing? The speaker asks God to cleanse me, making the request personal and dependent on God.
Direct: The imperative and suffix directly support the rendering cleanse me.
The imperative should be heard as a dependent prayer, not as human control over God. The Piel stem should not be used by itself to prove the depth or mechanism of cleansing.
Imperative means human demand over God: In this prayer, the imperative is a plea for mercy, not control over God. Piel always intensifies: Piel is a stem label and must be read with the lexeme and Psalm 51:2, not as a blanket intensity rule.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The BSB+ row for Psalms 51:2 links the English rendering "and cleanse me" with טַהֲרֵֽנִי׃, Strong's H2891, and the parsing label V-Piel-Imp-ms | 1cs.
H2891 can speak of being clean, purified, or made clear depending on context, and Psalm 51 uses it in a plea for cleansing from sin.
The imperative form is directed to God, while the first-person suffix keeps the request centered on the speaker who confesses guilt.
Psalm 51:2 asks God for mercy that reaches beyond acknowledgement of sin to washing and cleansing by God.
The language of cleansing belongs with the wider biblical pattern that sin requires God-given purification, not mere self-improvement.
Teachers can show that the Hebrew form lets the prayer say more than a general truth about purity: it asks God to cleanse me.
Do not build a full doctrine of purification from the stem label or suffix alone. The verse and psalm supply the interpretive frame.