Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

51 Written after Nathan the prophet had come to inform David of God’s judgment against him because of his adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder of Uriah, her husband.

O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. ² Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. ³ For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. ⁴ It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just. ⁵ But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. ⁶ You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom.

⁷ Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood^[a] and I shall be clean again. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ And after you have punished me, give me back my joy again. ⁹ Don’t keep looking at my sins—erase them from your sight. ¹⁰ Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. ¹¹ Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

¹⁹ When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and in terrible anger he threw the tablets to the ground, and they lay broken at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf and melted it in the fire, and when the metal cooled, he ground it into powder and spread it upon the water and made the people drink it.

²¹ Then he turned to Aaron. “What in the world did the people do to you,” he demanded, “to make you bring such a terrible sin upon them?”

²² “Don’t get so upset,” Aaron replied. “You know these people and what a wicked bunch they are. ²³ They said to me, ‘Make us a god to lead us, for something has happened to this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt.’ ²⁴ Well, I told them, ‘Bring me your gold earrings.’ So they brought them to me and I threw them into the fire, and . . . well . . . this calf came out!”

²⁵ When Moses saw that the people had been committing adultery—at Aaron’s encouragement, and much to the amusement of their enemies— ²⁶ he stood at the camp entrance and shouted, “All of you who are on the Lord’s side, come over here and join me.” And all the Levites came.

¹⁷ Next on my list of items to write you about is something else I cannot agree with. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together for your communion services. ¹⁸ Everyone keeps telling me about the arguing that goes on in these meetings, and the divisions developing among you, and I can just about believe it. ¹⁹ But I suppose you feel this is necessary so that you who are always right will become known and recognized!

²⁰ When you come together to eat, it isn’t the Lord’s Supper you are eating, ²¹ but your own. For I am told that everyone hastily gobbles all the food he can without waiting to share with the others, so that one doesn’t get enough and goes hungry while another has too much to drink and gets drunk. ²² What? Is this really true? Can’t you do your eating and drinking at home to avoid disgracing the church and shaming those who are poor and can bring no food? What am I supposed to say about these things? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly do not!