Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.
Please forgive me, Lord[a]
51 Please forgive me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Because you are so kind,
please clean away my sins.
2 I have done bad things,
so wash me to make me clean again.[b]
3 I know that I have not obeyed you.
I cannot forget that I am guilty.
4 It is you that I have done bad things against,
only you![c]
I have done things that are evil,
as you know.
And so you are fair when you speak against me.
You are right when you say that I am guilty.
5 Yes, even from the day I was born
I have done bad things.
I have always been guilty of sin.
6 But you want me to be completely good and honest.
You want to teach me to be wise
in the way that I live.
7 Splash water over me with a hyssop plant,
and I will be really clean.[d]
Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.[e]
8 Please forgive me so that I can be happy.
Then my whole body will feel well again.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Clean away all the bad things that I have done.[f]
10 God, please make my heart new and clean.
And make my spirit strong and true,
deep inside me.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me joy again,
because you have made me safe.
Make me strong and ready to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways
to people who have turned against you.
Then sinners will turn back
and they will obey you.
14 God, I am guilty of murder.
Please forgive me!
You are the one who saves me.
When you rescue me,
I will sing aloud about your righteousness.
15 My Lord, help me to speak,
and then I will praise you.
16 I would be happy to offer sacrifices to you,
but that is not what you really want.
You do not want a burnt offering from me.
17 You want me to be humble and sorry.
That is the sacrifice that you want.
When people are humble
and they turn away from their sins,
you will not refuse them.
18 God, please be kind and help Zion.
Make the walls of Jerusalem strong again.
19 Then you will accept our proper sacrifices.
Our burnt offerings and sacrifices of whole animals
will make you happy.
Once again, people will offer bulls to you,
on your altar.[g]
10 The Lord your God will soon bring you into a land that has large, beautiful cities that you did not build. That is the land that he promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 11 It has houses that are full of good things that you did not put into them. There are wells of water that you did not dig. There are fields with grapes and olive trees that you did not plant. You will be able to eat as much as you want. 12 But be careful that you do not forget the Lord. He rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.
13 You must respect and obey the Lord your God. Serve only him. If you make a serious promise, only use his name to make it strong. 14 Do not try to serve other gods. They are the gods that the people who live around you worship. 15 The Lord your God lives among you. He wants you to belong to him alone. If you worship other gods, he will be very angry with you. He will completely destroy you from the whole earth.
16 Do not test the Lord your God, to see what he will do. That is what you did at Massah. 17 Be careful to obey his commands. Remember the laws and the rules that he has told you to obey. 18 Do things that the Lord says are right and good. If you do that, you will be happy in everything that you do. You will go into the good land that he promised to your ancestors, and that will be your home. 19 You will be able to chase out all your enemies, as the Lord has promised.
20 One day, your children may say to you, ‘Please tell us about the rules and laws that the Lord our God commanded us to obey.’
21 Then you must tell them, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt. But the Lord used his great power to rescue us. 22 We saw him do great and powerful miracles that brought trouble to the Egyptians, and to Pharaoh himself and his family. 23 The Lord rescued us from Egypt so that he could give us another land to live in. That is the land that he promised to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these rules and to respect him with fear. If we do that, we will always live happily and the Lord will keep us safe, as he has done until now. 25 We must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord our God. If we do what he has told us, he will be pleased with us as people who do what is right.’
17 If someone has done bad things against you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to live in a good way so that people will respect you. They will see that you do good things. 18 If it is possible, try always to be friends with other people.
19 My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Instead, let God be angry and punish them. This is what is written in the Bible:[a]
‘The Lord God says,
“When people do something wrong,
I am the one who will punish them.
I will pay them back.” ’
20 But the Bible also says this:[b]
‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
If you help your enemy, he will become ashamed.
He will be sorry because of what he did to you.’
21 Do not let evil things win against you! Instead, do good things. Then you will win against the evil things that people do.
Love other people
8 Always pay your debts to people. The only debt that you should have is to love each other. Anyone who loves other people has obeyed God's Law completely.
9 The rules in God's Law say this: ‘Do not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or your own husband. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not want things that belong to other people.’ All these rules, and all the other rules in God's Law, are all included in one rule. That one rule is: ‘Love other people as much as you love yourself.’ 10 If you love other people, you will never do anything bad to them. So anyone who loves other people has obeyed God's Law completely.
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