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.

30 And you shall make an altar to burn incense upon; of acacia wood you shall make it.

² A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its breadth; its top shall be square and it shall be two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.

³ And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides round about and its horns, and you shall make a crown (a rim or molding) of gold around it.

⁴ You shall make two golden rings under the rim of it, on the two ribs on the two opposite sides of it; and they shall be holders for the poles with which to carry it.

⁵ And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, overlaid with gold.

⁶ You shall put the altar [of incense] in front and outside of the veil that screens the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony (the Law, the tables of stone), where I will meet with you.

⁷ And Aaron shall burn on it incense of sweet spices; every morning when he trims and fills the lamps he shall burn it.^(A)

⁸ And when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

⁹ You shall offer no unholy incense on the altar nor burnt sacrifice nor cereal offering; and you shall pour no libation (drink offering) on it.

¹⁰ Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once a year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement upon and for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.

¹⁴ Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has [already] ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith in Him].

¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

¹⁶ Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in things relating to God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

² He is able to exercise gentleness and forbearance toward the ignorant and erring, since he himself also is liable to moral weakness and physical infirmity.

³ And because of this he is obliged to offer sacrifice for his own sins, as well as for those of the people.

⁴ Besides, one does not appropriate for himself the honor [of being high priest], but he is called by God and receives it of Him, just as Aaron did.