The essay offers a radically new understanding of the form, expression, and meaning of the young Bernini’s masterpiece, notoriously a self-portrait. In the 38^th psalm, David, speaking in the first person, laments his transgressions and vows that he will mend his ways. He promises not to sin with his tongue, and to keep a bridle on his mouth while the sinner is before him. Bernini may have been influenced by the Commentary on the Psalms by the great Jesuit theologian Robert Bellarmine.