Psalm 51–53

A Prayer of Repentance and Plea for Mercy

51For the music director. A psalm of David.

When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.^a

¹Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love.

According to your abundant mercies,

blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and from my sin cleanse me.

³For I myself know^b my transgressions,^c

and my sin is ever before me.

⁴Against you, only you, I have sinned

and have done this evil^d in your eyes,

so that you are correct when you speak,

you are blameless when you judge.

⁵Behold, in iniquity I was born,

and in sin my mother conceived me.

⁶Behold, you delight in truth in the inward parts,

and in the hidden parts you make me to know wisdom.

⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸Make me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹Hide your face from my sins,

and all my iniquities blot out.

¹⁰Create a clean heart for me, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.^e

¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and with a willing spirit sustain me.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.

¹⁴Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

the God of my salvation;

then my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will proclaim your praise.

¹⁶For you do not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.

With a burnt offering you are not pleased.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸Do good in your favor toward Zion.

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,

burnt offering and whole burnt offering.

Then bulls will be offered on your altar.

God’s Judgment on the Wicked and Love for the Faithful

52For the music director. A maskil of David.

When Doeg the Edomite came and informed Saul.

And he said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”^a

¹Why do you boast about evil, O mighty man?

The loyal love of God endures continually.^b

²Your tongue plans destruction,

like a sharp razor, working deceit.

³You love evil more than good,

a lie more than speaking what is right.^c Selah

⁴You love all devouring words,

O deceitful tongue,

⁵but God will pull you down forever.

He will snatch you and tear you away from your tent,

and he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶And the righteous will see and fear,

and will laugh at him, saying,

⁷“Look, the man who would not make God his refuge,

but he trusted in the greatness of his wealth;

he took refuge in his destructiveness.”

⁸But I am like an olive tree flourishing

in the house^d of God.

I trust the loyal love of God forever and ever.

⁹I will give thanks to you forever, because of what you have done,

and I will wait on your name, because it is good,

in the presence of your faithful ones.

The Folly of the Godless and Salvation for Israel

53For the music director, according to Mahalath.

A maskil of David.^a

¹The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt and they have done abominable iniquity.

There is none who does good.

²God looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind

to see whether there is one who has insight,

one who seeks God.

³All of them^b have turned back.

They are altogether corrupt.

There is none who does good;

there is not even one.

⁴Do not evildoers know,

they who eat my people as though they were eating bread?

They do not call on God.

⁵There they are very fearful^c

where no fear had been,

because God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you.

You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.

⁶Oh, that from Zion^d would come salvation for Israel!

When God returns the fortunes^e of his people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.