Psalm 51-57

English Standard Version

^3 (G)For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
^4 (H)Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil ^(I)in your sight,
^(J)so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.
⁵ Behold, ^(K)I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in ^(L)the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷ Purge me ^(M)with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    ^(N)wash me, and I shall be ^(O)whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    ^(P)let the bones ^(Q)that you have broken rejoice.
^9 (R)Hide your face from my sins,
    and ^(S)blot out all my iniquities.
^10 (T)Create in me a ^(U)clean heart, O God,
    and ^(V)renew a right^[b] spirit within me.
^11 (W)Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not ^(X)your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will ^(Y)return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from ^(Z)bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O ^(AA)God of my salvation,
    and ^(AB)my tongue will sing aloud of your ^(AC)righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
^16 (AD)For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are ^(AE)a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

^18 (AF)Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    ^(AG)build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in ^(AH)right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and ^(AI)whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

⁵ But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and ^(AO)tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from ^(AP)the land of the living. Selah
⁶ The righteous shall ^(AQ)see and fear,
    and shall ^(AR)laugh at him, saying,
⁷ “See the man who would not make
    God his refuge,
but ^(AS)trusted in the abundance of his riches
    and sought refuge in his own destruction!”^[d]

⁸ But I am like ^(AT)a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
⁹ I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, ^(AU)for it is good,
    in the presence of the ^(AV)godly.

² God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,^[f]
    who seek after God.

³ They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Have those who work evil no knowledge,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread,
    and do not call upon God?

⁵ There they are, in great terror,
    ^(AY)where there is no terror!
For God ^(AZ)scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
    you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

^3 (BE)For ^(BF)strangers^[h] have risen against me;
    ruthless men ^(BG)seek my life;
    they do not set God before themselves. Selah

⁴ Behold, ^(BH)God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.
⁵ He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your ^(BI)faithfulness ^(BJ)put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, ^(BK)for it is good.
⁷ For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has ^(BL)looked in triumph on my enemies.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
    ^(BR)the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and ^(BS)horror ^(BT)overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
^7 (BU)yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter
    from ^(BV)the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹ Destroy, O Lord, ^(BW)divide their tongues;
    for I see ^(BX)violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and ^(BY)iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹     ruin is in its midst;
^(BZ)oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its marketplace.

¹² For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
    then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who ^(CA)deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
^13 (CB)But it is you, a man, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend.
¹⁴ We used to take sweet counsel together;
    within God's house we walked in ^(CC)the throng.
¹⁵ Let death steal over them;
    let them go down to Sheol ^(CD)alive;
    for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

¹⁶ But I call to God,
    and the Lord will save me.
^17 (CE)Evening and ^(CF)morning and at ^(CG)noon
    I ^(CH)utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He redeems my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for ^(CI)many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God will give ear and humble them,
    he who is ^(CJ)enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not ^(CK)change
    and do not fear God.

²⁰ My companion^{[j] (CL)}stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
²¹ His ^(CM)speech was ^(CN)smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were ^(CO)drawn swords.

^22 (CP)Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
^(CQ)he will never permit
    the righteous to be moved.

²³ But you, O God, ^(CR)will cast them down
    into ^(CS)the pit of destruction;
men of ^(CT)blood and treachery
    shall not ^(CU)live out half their days.
But I will ^(CV)trust in you.

⁵ All day long they injure my cause;^[l]
    all their thoughts are against me for evil.
⁶ They ^(DC)stir up strife, they ^(DD)lurk;
    they ^(DE)watch my steps,
    as they have waited for my life.
⁷ For their crime will they escape?
    ^(DF)In wrath ^(DG)cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸ You have kept count of my tossings;^{[m]
    (DH)}put my tears in your bottle.
    ^(DI)Are they not in your book?
⁹ Then my enemies will turn back
    ^(DJ)in the day when I call.
    This I know, that^{[n] (DK)}God is for me.
¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise,
    in the Lord, whose word I praise,
¹¹ in God I trust; ^(DL)I shall not be afraid.
    What can man do to me?

¹² I must perform my ^(DM)vows to you, O God;
    I will ^(DN)render thank offerings to you.
^13 (DO)For you have delivered my soul from death,
    yes, my feet from falling,
^(DP)that I may walk before God
    ^(DQ)in the light of life.

⁴ My soul is in the midst of ^(ED)lions;
    I lie down amid fiery beasts—
the children of man, whose ^(EE)teeth are spears and arrows,
    whose ^(EF)tongues are sharp swords.

^5 (EG)Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

⁶ They set ^(EH)a net for my steps;
    my soul was ^(EI)bowed down.
They ^(EJ)dug a pit in my way,
    but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
^7 (EK)My heart is ^(EL)steadfast, O God,
    my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody!
^{8     (EM)}Awake, ^(EN)my glory!^[p]
Awake, ^(EO)O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
⁹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
¹⁰ For your ^(EP)steadfast love is great to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.

^11 (EQ)Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!