תוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃ (ṯō·w·ḏî·‘ê·nî) in Psalms 51:6: Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | first person common singular
תוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃ (ṯō·w·ḏî·‘ê·nî) in Psalms 51:6
Source Word
The BSB+ row for Psalms 51:6 links the English rendering "You teach me" with תוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃, Strong's H3045, and the parsing label V-Hifil-Imperf-2ms | 1cs.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form makes God the active teacher in the line. The psalmist needs more than pardon language; he needs God-given wisdom in the inner person.
How To Communicate It
When teaching Psalm 51:6, use this form to show that repentance includes receiving truth from God, not merely admitting failure.
What Not To Say
- Grammar should serve context, not override it.
- Do not treat the imperfect form as a simple future tense detached from the prayer line.
- Do not turn hidden wisdom into speculative private knowledge; keep the claim tied to Psalm 51's repentance setting.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Hifil
Imperfect
Second
Masculine
Singular
First person common singular
Hifil imperfect, second masculine singular, with first common singular suffix
The imperfect form sits in a line about what God teaches or makes known, and should be read from the sentence rather than as a simple English future tense.
This form says that God teaches the speaker wisdom in the hidden place.
What The Form Does In This Verse
God as the one who teaches the psalmist
The second-person verb continues the address to God and governs the speaker as the object of divine instruction.
It presents wisdom as something God makes known to the speaker, not as insight the sinner naturally produces in himself.
The form does not turn the verse into a claim about secret knowledge or private revelation apart from the psalm's repentance context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The second-person verb and first-person suffix present God as the one who makes wisdom known to the speaker.
Hifil imperfect with first-person object suffix. presents God as the teacher and the speaker as the recipient of instruction. Attached to the statement about wisdom in the hidden part. Governed by the address to God in Psalm 51:6. The imperfect form serves this prayer line and should not be flattened into one English tense rule.
Who makes wisdom known to the speaker? God is addressed as the one who teaches or makes wisdom known to me.
Direct: The Hifil verb and suffix directly support the rendering You teach me.
The imperfect form in Hebrew can carry context-shaped force and should not be treated as a simple future tense by default. The first-person suffix identifies the recipient of teaching, while the psalm supplies the repentance setting.
Imperfect means future tense: Hebrew imperfect must be read in context and should not be reduced to one English tense label. Hifil always means causative: Hifil supports the caused-knowing idea here, but the clause supplies the actual teaching relation.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The BSB+ row for Psalms 51:6 links the English rendering "You teach me" with תוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃, Strong's H3045, and the parsing label V-Hifil-Imperf-2ms | 1cs.
H3045 can describe knowing, making known, or teaching. In this occurrence, the Hifil form fits the BSB rendering, You teach me.
The second-person form addresses God, and the first-person suffix identifies the psalmist as the one receiving instruction.
Psalm 51:6 moves beneath outward confession to truth and wisdom in the inner life, showing that repentance needs God's instruction.
The verse fits the broader biblical pattern that true wisdom and inner truth come from God's work, not from human self-repair.
Teachers can show that the form supports a humble claim: God must make wisdom known to the one who has sinned.
Do not use the Hifil label to claim more about hidden wisdom than the verse says. The grammar serves the repentance prayer.