Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the director of music. A psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to David after ·David’s sin with Bathsheba [he committed adultery with/L had gone to Bathsheba; 2 Sam. 11:1—12:25].
51 God, be ·merciful [gracious] to me
·because you are loving [according to your love/loyalty].
·Because you are always ready to be merciful [According to your abundant compassion],
·wipe [blot] out all my ·wrongs [transgressions].
2 Wash ·away [L me thoroughly from] all my guilt
and make me clean ·again [L from my sin].
3 I know about my ·wrongs [transgressions],
and ·I can’t forget my sin [L my sin is continually before me].
4 You ·are the only one [alone] I have sinned against;
I have done ·what you say is wrong [L evil in your eyes].
You are ·right [vindicated] when you speak
and ·fair [pure; blameless] when you judge.
5 I was ·brought into this world [born] in ·sin [guilt].
In sin my mother ·gave birth to [conceived] me [Rom. 3:9–20; 7:18].
6 You ·want me to be completely truthful [L desire truth/faithfulness in my inward parts],
·so teach me wisdom [L and secretly you make me know wisdom].
7 ·Take away my sin [L Remove my sin with hyssop; Ex. 12:22; C a plant used in purification rituals; Lev. 14:4, 6, 49–51; Num. 19:18], and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow [Is. 1:18].
8 Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness;
let the bones you crushed ·be happy [rejoice] again.
9 ·Turn [L Hide] your face from my sins
and ·wipe [blot] out all my guilt.
10 Create in me a ·pure [clean] heart, God,
and ·make my spirit right again [L renew a right/steadfast spirit in me].
11 Do not send me away from you
or take your ·Holy Spirit [or holy spirit] away from me.
12 ·Give me back [Restore to me] the joy of your ·salvation [rescue].
·Keep me strong by giving [Sustain in] me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach your ways to ·those who do wrong [transgressors],
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 God, save me from ·the guilt of murder [bloodshed],
God of my ·salvation [rescue],
and ·I will sing about your goodness [L let my tongue sing for joy of your righteousness].
15 Lord, let ·me speak [L my lips open]
so ·I may praise you [L my mouth may speak your praise].
16 You are not pleased by sacrifices, or I would give them.
You don’t want burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17].
17 The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit.
God, you will not ·reject [despise] a heart that is broken and ·sorry for sin [contrite; Is. 57:15; 66:2; Mic. 6:6–8].
18 Do whatever good you wish for ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple].
Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with right sacrifices and whole burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17],
and bulls will be offered on your altar.
God’s Mercy Makes Jonah Angry
4 But this made Jonah very unhappy, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “When I was still in my own country ·this is [L isn’t this…?] what I said would happen, and that is why I quickly ran away to Tarshish [1:3]. I knew that you are a God who is ·kind [gracious] and ·shows mercy [compassionate]. ·You don’t become angry quickly […slow to anger], and you ·have great love [abound in lovingkindness/mercy; Ex. 34:6–7]. I knew you would ·choose not to cause [relent from doing] harm. 3 So now I ask you, Lord, please ·kill me [take my life]. It is better for me to die than to live.”
4 Then the Lord said, “Do you think it is right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out and sat down east of the city. There he made a shelter for himself and sat in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city. 6 The Lord made a ·plant [gourd] grow quickly up over Jonah, which gave him shade and ·helped him to be more comfortable [eased his discomfort]. Jonah was very pleased to have the ·plant [gourd]. 7 But the next day when the sun rose, God sent a worm to attack the ·plant [gourd] so that it ·died [dried up; withered].
8 As the sun rose higher in the sky, God sent a very hot east wind to blow, and the sun ·became so hot [beat down] on Jonah’s head that he became ·very weak [faint] and wished he were dead. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you think it is right for you to be angry about the ·plant [gourd]?”
Jonah answered, “It is right for me to be angry! I am so angry I could die!”
10 And the Lord said, “You ·are so concerned [have pity] for that ·plant [gourd] even though you did nothing to make it grow. It appeared ·one day [overnight], and ·the next day [overnight] it died. 11 Then shouldn’t I ·show concern [have pity] for the great city Nineveh, which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know ·right from wrong [L their right hand from their left], and ·many animals [much cattle], too?”
A Prayer of Thanks
8 First I want to say that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith. 9 God, whom I serve ·with my whole heart [in/with my spirit] ·by telling [or for the sake of; L in] the ·Good News [Gospel] about his Son, ·knows [L is my witness] that I ·always [continually; never cease to] mention you 10 every time I pray. I pray that now at last ·if God wants it [by God’s will] I will ·be allowed to come [succeed in coming] to you. 11 I ·want very much [long] to see you, to ·give [impart to; or share with] you some spiritual gift to make you strong. 12 I mean that I want us to ·help each other [be mutually encouraged/comforted] ·with the faith we have [by each other’s faith]. ·Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you [L …both yours and mine]. 13 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I ·planned [intended] many times to come to you, but ·this has not been possible [L have been hindered/ unsuccessful until now]. I wanted to come so that I could ·help you grow spiritually [L harvest some fruit among you] as I have ·helped the other [L among the rest of the] Gentiles.
14 I have a ·duty [obligation; debt] to all people—Greeks and ·those who are not Greeks [or barbarians; C this pairing could mean (1) ethnic Greeks and other Gentiles; (2) Greek speakers (people in the Roman empire) and non-Greek speakers (those outside the Roman empire); or (3) cultured people and uncultured people], the wise and the foolish [C perhaps contrasting educated with uneducated, or philosophically sophisticated (1 Cor. 1:18–31) with simple-minded]. 15 That is why I ·want so much [am so eager] to preach the ·Good News [Gospel] to you in Rome.
16 [L For] I am not ashamed of the ·Good News [Gospel], because it is the power God uses to save everyone who believes—to save the Jews first, and then to save ·Gentiles [L the Greeks; C here meaning anyone who is not Jewish; contrast v. 14]. 17 The ·Good News [Gospel] shows ·how God makes people right with himself [or God’s righteous character; L the righteousness of/from God]—·that it begins and ends with faith [or that advances from one believing person to the next; or that begins with God’s faithfulness and results in people’s faith; L from faith to faith]. As the Scripture says, “But ·those who are right with God will live by faith [or those made righteous through faith will live (eternally); Hab. 2:4].”
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.