Iniquities prevail against me - Margin, as in Hebrew, Words, or matters of iniquities. The literal meaning is words; and the idea may be that words spoken in iniquity, or slanderous words spoken by others, prevailed against him. The phrase, however, is susceptible of the interpretation which refers it to iniquity itself; meaning the matter of iniquity - the thing - iniquity itself - as if that overcame him, or got the mastery of him. The psalmist here, in his own name, seems to represent the people who thus approached God, for the psalm refers to the worship of an assembly or a congregation. The idea is, that when they thus came before God; when they had prepared all things for his praise Psalms 65:1; when they approached him in an attitude of prayer, they were so bowed down under a load of transgression - a weight of sin - as to hinder their easy access to his throne. They were so conscious of unworthiness; their sin had such an effect on their minds; it rendered them so dull, cold, and stupid, that they could not find access to the throne of God. How often do the people of God find this to be the case!
As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away - That is, In reference to these very transgressions or iniquities that now press us down, thou wilt remove them. The language expresses the rising confidence and hope of the worshippers that God would not allow those transgressions so to prevail as to prevent their worshipping God acceptably. Heavy as was the burden of sin, and much as the consciousness of guilt tended to impede their worship, yet they felt assured that God would so remove their transgressions that they might have access to his mercy-seat. The word rendered “purge away” - כפר kâphar - is the word which is commonly rendered “to atone for,” or which is used to represent the idea of atonement. See the notes at Isaiah 43:3. The word has here the sense of cleansing or purifying, but it always carries with it, in the Scriptures, a reference to that through which the heart is cleansed - the atonement, or the expiatory offering made for sin. The language here expresses the feeling which all may have, and should have, and which very many do have, when they approach God, that, although they are deeply conscious of sin, God will so graciously remove the guilt of sin, and lift off the burden, cleansing the soul by his grace, as to make it not improper that we should approach him, and that he will enable us to do it with peace, and joy, and hope. Compare the notes at Psalms 51:2.