Psalm 50-51

Common English Bible

Psalm 50

A psalm of Asaph.

50 From the rising of the sun to where it sets,
    God, the Lord God, speaks,
        calling out to the earth.
²From Zion, perfect in beauty,
    God shines brightly.
³Our God is coming;
    he won’t keep quiet.
A devouring fire is before him;
    a storm rages all around him.
⁴God calls out to the skies above
    and to the earth in order to judge his people:
⁵“Bring my faithful to me,
    those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
⁶The skies proclaim his righteousness
    because God himself is the judge. Selah

⁷“Listen, my people, I will now speak;
    Israel, I will now testify against you.
    I am God—your God!
⁸I’m not punishing you for your sacrifices
    or for your entirely burned offerings,
    which are always before me.
⁹I won’t accept bulls from your house
    or goats from your corrals
¹⁰    because every forest animal already belongs to me,
    as do the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹I know every mountain bird;
    even the insects in the fields are mine.
¹²Even if I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you
    because the whole world and everything in it already belong to me.
¹³Do I eat bulls’ meat?
    Do I drink goats’ blood?
¹⁴Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving!
    Fulfill the promises you made to the Most High!
¹⁵Cry out to me whenever you are in trouble;
    I will deliver you, then you will honor me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked God says,
“Why do you talk about my laws?
    Why do you even mention my covenant?
¹⁷You hate discipline, and
    you toss my words behind your back.
¹⁸You make friends with thieves whenever you see one;
    you spend your time with adulterers.
¹⁹You set your mouth free to do evil,
    then harness your tongue to tell lies.
²⁰You sit around, talking about your own siblings;
    you find fault with the children of your very own mother.
²¹You’ve done these things and I’ve kept quiet.
    You thought I was just like you!
        But now I’m punishing you;
        I’m laying it all out, right in front of your face.
²²So consider this carefully, all you who forget God,
    or I’ll rip you to pieces with no one to deliver you:
²³The one who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving is the one who honors me.
    And it is to the one who charts the correct path that I will show divine salvation.”

Psalm 51

For the music leader. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him just after he had been with Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
    Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
²Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
    purify me from my sin!
³Because I know my wrongdoings,
    my sin is always right in front of me.
⁴I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
    I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
    completely correct when you issue your judgment.
⁵Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
    from the moment my mother conceived me.
⁶And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
    you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.^[a]

⁷Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
    wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and celebration again;
    let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
⁹Hide your face from my sins;
    wipe away all my guilty deeds!
¹⁰Create a clean heart for me, God;
    put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
¹¹Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
    please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
¹²Return the joy of your salvation to me
    and sustain me with a willing spirit.
¹³Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
    and sinners will come back to you.

¹⁴Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation,
    so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
¹⁶You don’t want sacrifices.
    If I gave an entirely burned offering,
    you wouldn’t be pleased.
¹⁷A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.^[b]
    You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
¹⁸Do good things for Zion by your favor.
    Rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.
¹⁹Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness—
    entirely burned offerings and complete offerings.
        Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.