Later text
Psalms 51:11BSB
Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Psalms 51:11BSB
Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
Earlier text
After the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress from the LORD began to torment him.
Psalm 51:11 pleads "Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit (רוּחַ קָדְשְׁךָ, ruach qodshekha) from me" — a prayer rooted in David's firsthand knowledge of what happened to Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14: "the Spirit of the LORD (רוּחַ יְהוָה, ruach YHWH) had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress from the LORD began to torment him." David witnessed the devastating consequences of the Spirit's withdrawal from Saul — mental anguish, erratic behavior, and progressive alienation from God. His post-Bathsheba plea reveals terror that his own grievous sin might trigger the same Spirit-departure, making Saul's experience a cautionary precedent that shapes David's penitential theology. The verbal link between Saul's Spirit "departing" (סוּר, sur) and David's plea that it not be "taken" (לָקַח, laqach) from him underscores that David feared the very same forfeiture Saul suffered.