Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 51
Cleanse Me From My Sin
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For the choir director. A psalm by David.
When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.[a]
David’s Plea for Forgiveness
1 Be gracious to me, God,
according to your mercy.
Erase my acts of rebellion
according to the greatness of your compassion.
2 Scrub me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
David’s Confession
3 For I admit my rebellious acts.
My sin is always in front of me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned,
and I have done this evil in your eyes.
So you are justified when you sentence me.
You are blameless when you judge.
5 Certainly, I was guilty when I was born.
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
David’s Need for Renewal
6 Since you desire truth on the inside,
in my hidden heart you teach me wisdom.
7 Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness.
Let the bones you have crushed celebrate.
9 Hide your face from my sins.
Erase all my guilty deeds.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God.
Renew an unwavering spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence.
Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Sustain me with a willing spirit.
David’s Pledge of Renewed Service
13 I will teach rebels your ways,
and sinners will turn to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
the God who saves me.
My tongue will shout for joy about your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you do not delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it.
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit.
A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise.
David’s Prayer for the People
18 As it pleases you, do good for Zion.
Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices,
burnt offerings and whole offerings.
Then bulls will be offered up on your altar.
Fast for the Right Reasons
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Cry out with a full-throated shout.
Do not hold back.
Shout like the blast of a ram’s horn.
Declare to my people their rebellious deeds.
Declare to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek me day by day,
and they are delighted to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right,
as if they had not forsaken the just ways of their God.
They ask me for just verdicts.
They are delighted to approach God:
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why do we afflict ourselves, but you are not aware?”
This is what you do!
On the same day when you fast, you do whatever you please,
and you oppress all your workers.
4 You fast so you can fight and quarrel,
so you can strike with a wicked fist.
You should not fast the way you are doing it today
if you expect God on high to hear your voice.
5 Is this the kind of fast that I would choose:
a day when a person afflicts himself
and bows his head like a reed
and makes his bed on sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast, a day to gain the Lord’s favor?
6 On the contrary, isn’t this the kind of fast that I would choose:
to loosen the chains of wickedness,
to tear apart the ropes of a yoke,
to release the oppressed so they go free,
and to tear every yoke to pieces?
7 Isn’t a true fast that you share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless and afflicted into a house?
Yes, when you see a naked person, you are to cover him,
and do not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood.
8 Then your light will break forth like dawn,
and your healing will spring up quickly.
Your righteousness will go out ahead of you,
and the Glory of the Lord will follow you.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.
You will cry out, and he will say, “Here I am!”
If you remove the bar of the yoke from among you,
and if you stop finger-pointing and speaking wickedly,
10 if you offer your life for the hungry,
and if you satisfy the desires of the afflicted,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your darkest gloom will shine like the noonday sun.
11 Then the Lord will lead you continually.
He will satisfy your desire in arid places,
and he will strengthen your bones.
Then you will be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, whose waters will not fail.
12 Then your ancient ruins will be rebuilt,
and you will restore the foundations from past generations.
Then you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets to live on.
Who Is the Greatest?
18 At that time the disciples approached Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Jesus called a little child, had him stand in the middle of them, 3 and said, “Amen I tell you: Unless you are turned and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives a little child like this one in my name receives me.
6 “But, if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,[a] it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of temptations to sin. Temptations must come, but woe to that person through whom the temptation comes!
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.