Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 32

[A Psalm of David.] A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.

¹ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered.

² Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.^(A)

³ When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.

⁴ For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁶ For this [forgiveness] let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him.

⁷ You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁸ I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

⁹ Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you.

¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness.

¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

²⁸ And Ahimaaz called and said to the king, All is well! And he fell down to the ground on his face before the king and said, Blessed be the Lord your God, Who has shut up the men who lifted up their hands against my lord the king.

²⁹ The king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king’s servant and me, your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was.

³⁰ The king told him, Turn aside; stand here. And he turned aside and stood still.

³¹ And behold, the Cushite (Ethiopian) came, and he said, News, my lord the king! For the Lord has delivered you this day from all who rose up against you.

³² The king said to the Cushite, Is the young man Absalom safe? The Cushite replied, May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise against you to do evil be like that young man is.

³³ And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would to God I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my son!

19 It was told Joab, Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.

² So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for they heard it said, The king grieves for his son.

³ The people slipped into the city stealthily that day as humiliated people steal away when they flee in battle.

⁴ But the king covered his face and cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!

⁵ And Joab came into the house to the king and said, You have today covered the faces of all your servants with shame, who this day have saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.

⁶ For you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for today I see that if Absalom had lived and all the rest of us had died, you would be well pleased.

⁷ So now arise, go out and speak kindly and encouragingly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord that if you do not go, not a man will remain with you this night. And this will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now.

⁸ Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And all [his followers] were told, The king is sitting in the gate, and they all came before the king. Now Israel [Absalom’s troops] had fled, every man to his home.

¹⁷ One of those days, as He was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting by, who had come from every village and town of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was [present] with Him to heal ^[a]them.

¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to carry him in and lay him before [Jesus].

¹⁹ But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with his stretcher through the tiles into the midst, in front of Jesus.

²⁰ And when He saw [their confidence in Him, springing from] their faith, He said, Man, your sins are forgiven you!

²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason and question and argue, saying, Who is this [Man] Who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?

²² But Jesus, knowing their thoughts and questionings, answered them, Why do you question in your hearts?

²³ Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise and walk [about]?

²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has the [^[b]power of] authority and right on earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralyzed man, I say to you, arise, pick up your litter (stretcher), and go to your own house!

²⁵ And instantly [the man] stood up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went away to his house, ^[c]recognizing and praising and thanking God.

²⁶ And overwhelming astonishment and ecstasy seized them all, and they ^[d]recognized and praised and thanked God; and they were filled with and controlled by reverential fear and kept saying, We have seen wonderful and strange and incredible and unthinkable things today!