Psalm 51:1-5

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 ^[a]Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love;
according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

³For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
    and done that which is evil in thy sight,
so that thou art justified in thy sentence
    and blameless in thy judgment.
⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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Footnotes

51 This psalm, known as the “Miserere,” is the one most used in the Office to express repentance for sin.

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.