Born in Sin
Does Psalm 51:5 teach that babies are born in sin? The New King James Version translates Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,And in sin my mother conceived me.” The English Standard Version, American Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, and Revised Standard Version translate this verse almost identically as the NKJV. The King James Version says: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” In contrast, the New International Version says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” The Christian Standard Bible says, “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;I was sinful when my mother conceived me.”The NIV and CSB translations declare explicitly that David was born in sin.
In the KJV, NKJV, ESV, ASV, NASB, and RSV, the prepositional phrases “in iniquity,” and “in sin” are adverbial modifying the two verbs “was brought forth,” and “conceived” respectively. Interpreted literally, it wasn’t David that sinned, but his mother. Obviously, that isn’t what David is saying. Rather, he is expressing the depth of his guilt after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah. That means that this passage must not be understood literally, but figuratively. The NIV and CSB strip this figure away and make the language literal when it is not.David was expressing the depth of his guilt by figuratively extending it to his mother’s conception and birth of him. This is not an objective statement about David’s birth; it is a subjective statement about how David felt about his birth after He sinned. So, this verse teaches that David felt very badly about his sin; it does not teach that babies are born in sin.