Miserere — Psalm 50/51

Last tended: 22 June 2026

The great penitential psalm, sung at Lauds and under the shadow of Allegri’s setting in the Sistine Chapel. The Latin numbering (50) and the Hebrew (51) differ by one here, as they do through most of the Psalter; the incipit is the surer name.

Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences.

Coverdale’s “after thy great goodness” is doing real work — not because I deserve it but after the measure of thy goodness. The ground of the plea is God’s character, not the petitioner’s case.