Psalm 19

Common English Bible

Psalm 19

For the music leader. A psalm of David.

19 Heaven is declaring God’s glory;
    the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.
²One day gushes the news to the next,
    and one night informs another what needs to be known.
³Of course, there’s no speech, no words—
        their voices can’t be heard—
⁴    but their sound^[a] extends throughout the world;
        their words reach the ends of the earth.

God has made a tent in heaven for the sun.
⁵The sun is like a groom
    coming out of his honeymoon suite;
    like a warrior, it thrills at running its course.
⁶It rises in one end of the sky;
    its circuit is complete at the other.
        Nothing escapes its heat.

⁷The Lord’s Instruction is perfect,
    reviving one’s very being.^[b]
The Lord’s laws are faithful,
    making naive people wise.
⁸The Lord’s regulations are right,
    gladdening the heart.
The Lord’s commands are pure,
    giving light to the eyes.
⁹Honoring the Lord is correct,
    lasting forever.
The Lord’s judgments are true.
    All of these are righteous!
¹⁰They are more desirable than gold—
        than tons of pure gold!
    They are sweeter than honey—
        even dripping off the honeycomb!
¹¹No doubt about it:
    your servant is enlightened by them;
    there is great reward in keeping them.
¹²But can anyone know
    what they’ve accidentally done wrong?
    Clear me of any unknown sin
¹³        and save your servant from willful sins.
        Don’t let them rule me.
Then I’ll be completely blameless;
    I’ll be innocent of great wrongdoing.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth
    and the meditations of my heart
    be pleasing to you,
    Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Footnotes

Psalm 19:4 LXX, Vulg, Sym; MT line or string
Psalm 19:7 Or soul

Matthew 6:7-15

Common English Bible

Proper prayer

⁷“When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. ⁸Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask. ⁹Pray like this:

Our Father who is in heaven,

uphold the holiness of your name.

¹⁰Bring in your kingdom

so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven.

¹¹Give us the bread we need for today.

¹²Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,

just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.

¹³And don’t lead us into temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one.

¹⁴“If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

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Romans 8:18-27

Common English Bible

Our suffering and our hope

¹⁸I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. ²⁰Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice—it was the choice of the one who subjected it—but in the hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children. ²²We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. ²³And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. ²⁴We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? ²⁵But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. ²⁷The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.

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