Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 51

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin!

³ For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me.

⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment.^(A)

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].^(B)

⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.

⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow.

⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

⁹ Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹⁹ And as soon as he came near to the camp he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses’ anger blazed hot and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

²⁰ And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?

²² And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord blaze hot; you know the people, that they are set on evil.

²³ For they said to me, Make us gods which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

²⁴ I said to them, Those who have any gold, let them take it off. So they gave it to me; then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people were unruly and unrestrained (for Aaron had let them get out of control, so that they were a derision and object of shame among their enemies),

²⁶ Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on the Lord’s side, let him come to me. And all the Levites [the priestly tribe] gathered together to him.

¹⁷ But in what I instruct [you] next I do not commend [you], because when you meet together, it is not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸ For in the first place, when you assemble as a congregation, I hear that there are cliques (divisions and factions) among you; and I in part believe it,

¹⁹ For doubtless there have to be factions or parties among you in order that they who are genuine and of approved fitness may become evident and plainly recognized among you.

²⁰ So when you gather for your meetings, it is not the supper instituted by the Lord that you eat,

²¹ For in eating each one [hurries] to get his own supper first [not waiting for the poor], and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.

²² What! Do you have no houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and mean to show contempt for it, while you humiliate those who are poor (have no homes and have brought no food)? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, [most certainly] I will not!