Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer of the Sinner

51 O God, favor me because of Your loving-kindness. Take away my wrong-doing because of the greatness of Your loving-pity. ² Wash me inside and out from my wrong-doing and make me clean from my sin. ³ For I know my wrong-doing, and my sin is always in front of me. ⁴ I have sinned against You, and You only. I have done what is sinful in Your eyes. You are always right when You speak, and fair when You judge.

⁵ See, I was born in sin and was in sin from my very beginning. ⁶ See, You want truth deep within the heart. And You will make me know wisdom in the hidden part. ⁷ Take away my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and happiness. Let the bones that You have broken be full of joy. ⁹ Hide Your face from my sins. And take away all my wrong-doing.

¹⁰ Make a clean heart in me, O God. Give me a new spirit that will not be moved. ¹¹ Do not throw me away from where You are. And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Let the joy of Your saving power return to me. And give me a willing spirit to obey you. ¹³ Then I will teach wrong-doers Your ways. And sinners will turn to You.

¹⁴ Save me from the guilt of blood, O God. You are the God Who saves me. Then my tongue will sing with joy about how right and good You are. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, so my mouth will praise You. ¹⁶ For You are not happy with a gift given on the altar in worship, or I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt gifts. ¹⁷ The gifts on an altar that God wants are a broken spirit. O God, You will not hate a broken heart and a heart with no pride.

¹⁸ Be pleased to do good to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then You will be happy with gifts given on the altar that are right and good, with burnt gifts and whole burnt gifts. Then young bulls will be given on Your altar.

¹⁰ “The Lord your God will bring you into the land He promised to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to you. There will be big and beautiful cities which you did not build. ¹¹ Houses will be full of good things which you did not fill. There will be pools for keeping water which you did not dig, and grape vines and olive trees which you did not plant. You will eat and be filled. ¹² But then be careful not to forget the Lord Who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the land where you were held as servants. ¹³ You must fear the Lord your God. You must worship Him, and swear by His name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the people around you. ¹⁵ Or the anger of the Lord your God will burn against you. He will destroy you from the earth. For the Lord your God Who is among you is a jealous God.

¹⁶ “Do not test the Lord your God, as you put Him to the test at Massah. ¹⁷ Be careful to keep all the Laws which the Lord your God has told you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord. Then it will be well with you. And you may go in and take the good land for your own which the Lord promised to give to your fathers. ¹⁹ You will drive out of your way all who hate you, as the Lord has promised.

²⁰ “In time to come your son will ask you, ‘What do all the Laws mean which the Lord told you?’ ²¹ Then say to your son, ‘We were servants of Pharaoh in Egypt. But the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²² The Lord showed us great and powerful works against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all those of his house. ²³ The Lord brought us out from there to bring us into the land He had promised to our fathers.’ ²⁴ So the Lord told us to do all these Laws and to fear the Lord our God for our good always, as it is today. ²⁵ We will be right with the Lord our God if we are careful to obey all of the Law before Him, just as He told us.

¹⁷ When someone does something bad to you, do not pay him back with something bad. Try to do what all men know is right and good. ¹⁸ As much as you can, live in peace with all men. ¹⁹ Christian brothers, never pay back someone for the bad he has done to you. Let the anger of God take care of the other person. The Holy Writings say, “I will pay back to them what they should get, says the Lord.” ^{(A) 20} “If the one who hates you is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him water. If you do that, you will be making him more ashamed of himself.” ^{(B) 21} Do not let sin have power over you. Let good have power over sin!

⁸ Do not owe anyone anything, but love each other. Whoever loves his neighbor has done what the Law says to do. ⁹ The Law says, “You must not do any sex sin. You must not kill another person. You must not steal. You must not tell a lie about another person. You must not want something someone else has.” The Law also says that these and many other Laws are brought together in one Law, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Anyone who loves his neighbor will do no wrong to him. You keep the Law with love.