Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Director: A Davidic Psalm. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
A Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
51 Have mercy, God, according to your gracious love,
according to your unlimited compassion,
erase my transgressions.
2 Wash me from my iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgression;
my sin remains continuously before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and done what was evil in your sight.
As a result, you are just in your pronouncement
and clear in your judgment.
5 Indeed, in iniquity I was brought forth;
in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Indeed, you are pleased with truth in the inner person,
and you will teach me wisdom in my[a] innermost parts.
7 Purge me with hyssop,
and I will be clean.
Wash me,
and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me know[b] joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your countenance from my sins
and erase the record of my iniquities.
10 God, create a pure heart in me,
and renew a right attitude within me.
Human Corruption
6 Now after the population of human beings had increased throughout the[a] earth, and daughters had been born to them, 2 some divine beings[b] noticed how attractive human women[c] were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased them.[d] 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit won’t remain[e] with human beings forever, because they’re truly mortal.[f] Their lifespan[g] will be 120 years.”
4 The Nephilim[h] were on the earth at that time[i] (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings[j] were having sexual relations with[k] those human women,[l] who gave birth to children for them. These children[m] became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.[n]
God Decides to Destroy the World
5 The Lord saw that human evil was growing more and more throughout the earth, with every inclination of people’s thoughts[o] becoming only evil on a continuous basis. 6 Then the Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and he was deeply grieved about that.[p]
Greetings
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and the Messiah[c] Jesus, our hope.
2 To: Timothy, my genuine child in the faith.
May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Messiah[d] Jesus, our Lord, be yours!
A Warning against False Teachers
3 When I was on my way to Macedonia, I urged you to stay in Ephesus so that you could instruct certain people to stop teaching false doctrine 4 and occupying themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These things promote controversies rather than God’s ongoing purpose, which involves faith. 5 The goal of this instruction is love that flows from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith. 6 Some people have left these qualities behind and have turned to fruitless discussion. 7 They want to be teachers of the Law, yet they do not understand either what they are talking about or the things about which they speak so confidently.
8 Of course, we know that the Law is good if a person uses it legitimately, 9 that is, if he understands that the Law is not intended for righteous[e] people but for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly people and sinners, for those who are unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers, their mothers, or other people, 10 for those involved in sexual immorality, for homosexuals, for kidnappers,[f] for liars, for false witnesses, and for whatever else goes against the healthy teaching 11 that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.