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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 51:4

"When thou judgest" or "when thou art judged"

Hebrew: "so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge." The Greek reads "that you may be justified in your words and overcome when you are judged" (Vulgate "vincas cum judicaris"). Paul quotes the Greek in Romans 3:4.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Uncertain connection
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. Greek New Testament (library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the psalm (which wording it followed is the question)

Every witness, in order

  1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

    The psalm as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

  2. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Greek New Testament (library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the psalm (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    Μὴ γένοιτο! Γινέσθω δὲ ὁ ˚Θεὸς ἀληθής, πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης, καθάπερ γέγραπται, “Ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου, καὶ νικήσεις ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε.”

    …as it is written, That you may be justified in your words, and you will overcome when you are judged.

    Romans 3:4, quoting the Greek psalm. KJV: "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."

  3. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

    Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci; ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.

    Latin numbering: Psalm 50:6. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew. Vulgate 50:6.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    לְךָ֤ לְבַדְּךָ֨ ׀ חָטָאתִי֮ וְהָרַ֥ע בְּעֵינֶ֗יךָ עָ֫שִׂ֥יתִי לְ֭מַעַן תִּצְדַּ֥ק בְּדָבְרֶ֗ךָ תִּזְכֶּ֥ה בְשָׁפְטֶֽךָ׃

    Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your eyes, so that you are just when you speak, blameless when you judge

    Hebrew numbering: Psalm 51:6. Hebrew 51:6: the heading takes two verses.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

  6. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    C’est contre vous seul que j’ai péché, et devant vous que j’ai fait le mal; vous l’avez permis, afin que vous soyez reconnu juste dans vos paroles et que vous triomphiez dans vos jugements.

    Greek numbering: Psalm 50:6. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition. Giguet's 50:6.

What changed, and why

Two changes: tizkeh ("you are clear, blameless") became nikēsēs ("you overcome"), perhaps from the Aramaic sense of zakah, "to win a case"; and beshoftekha ("when you judge") became en tōi krinesthai se, which can be middle ("when you go to law") or passive ("when you are judged"). The Greek pictures God as a party in a lawsuit who wins. Paul uses exactly that image in Romans 3:4: God is shown true even if every human is false.

The verse numbers differ by two because the heading occupies two verses in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Greek reads "overcome when you are judged."
  • Independently documentedRomans 3:4 quotes the Greek.
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe Greek reflects the Aramaic sense of zakah.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Psalm 51: Have Mercy on Me, O God →The heading sets the psalm "when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba." "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness." "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." "Create in me a clean heart, O God." "Take not thy holy spirit from me." "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." The psalm ends with a prayer to build the walls of Jerusalem, and then offerings on the altar.