PSALM 17

A Prayer of David.

1 Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry!

Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

2 From thee let my vindication come!

Let thy eyes see the right!

3 If thou triest my heart, if thou visitest me by night,

if thou testest me, thou wilt find no wickedness in me;

my mouth does not transgress.

4 With regard to the works of men, by the word of thy lips

I have avoided the ways of the violent.

5 My steps have held fast to thy paths,

my feet have not slipped.

6 I call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me, O God;

incline thy ear to me, hear my words.

7 Wondrously show thy steadfast love,

O savior of those who seek refuge

from their adversaries at thy right hand.

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye;

hide me in the shadow of thy wings,

9 from the wicked who despoil me,

my deadly enemies who surround me.

10 They close their hearts to pity;

with their mouths they speak arrogantly.

11 They track me down; now they surround me;

they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.

12 They are like a lion eager to tear,

as a young lion lurking in ambush.

13 Arise, O Lord! confront them, overthrow them!

Deliver my life from the wicked by thy sword,

14 from men by thy hand, O Lord,

from men whose portion in life is of the world.

May their belly be filled with what thou hast stored up for them;

may their children have more than enough;

may they leave something over to their babes.

15 As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness;

when I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form.

PSALM 50

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 The Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

3 Our God comes, he does not keep silence,

before him is a devouring fire,

round about him a mighty tempest.

4 He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6 The heavens declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge! [Selah]

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,

O Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9 I will accept no bull from your house,

nor he-goat from your folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know all the birds of the air,v

and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;

for the world and all that is in it is mine.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,w

and pay your vows to the Most High;

15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

16 But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes,

or take my covenant on your lips?

17 For you hate discipline,

and you cast my words behind you.

18 If you see a thief, you are a friend of his;

and you keep company with adulterers.

19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and your tongue frames deceit.

20 You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother’s son.

21 These things you have done and I have been silent;

you thought that I was one like yourself.

But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God,

lest I rend, and there be none to deliver!

23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me;

to him who orders his way aright

I will show the salvation of God!”

PSALM 51

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to thy steadfast love;

according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,

and done that which is evil in thy sight,

so that thou art justified in thy sentence

and blameless in thy judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being;

therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Fillx me with joy and gladness;

let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and righty spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence,

and take not thy holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors thy ways,

and sinners will return to thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,z O God,

thou God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips,

and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

16 For thou hast no delight in sacrifice;

were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.

17 The sacrifice acceptable to God* is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure;

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,

19 then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on thy altar.