Psalms 51; Psalms 52; Psalms 53; Romans 2

1 (50-1) <Unto the end, a psalm of David, (50-2) When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had sinned with Bethsabee.> (50-3) Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.

2 (50-4) Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 (50-5) For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.

4 (50-6) To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged.

5 (50-7) For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.

6 (50-8) For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.

7 (50-9) Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

8 (50-10) To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

9 (50-11) Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

10 (50-12) Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

11 (50-13) Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 (50-14) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

13 (50-15) I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

14 (50-16) Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

15 (50-17) O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

16 (50-18) For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.

17 (50-19) A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 (50-20) Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

19 (50-21) Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

1 (51-1) <Unto the end, understanding for David, (51-2) When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul: David went to the house of Achimelech.> (51-3) Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?

2 (51-4) All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.

3 (51-5) Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

4 (51-6) Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

5 (51-7) Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.

6 (51-8) The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:

7 (51-9) Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.

8 (51-10) But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.

9 (51-11) I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

1 (52-1) <Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David.> The fool said in his heart: There is no God. (52-2) They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.

2 (52-3) God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.

3 (52-4) All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one.

4 (52-5) Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread?

5 (52-6) They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.

6 (52-7) Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

1 Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest.

2 For we know that the judgment of God is, according to truth, against them that do such things.

3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and patience and longsuffering? Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?

5 But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God:

6 Who will render to every man according to his works.

7 To them indeed who, according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life:

8 But to them that are contentious and who obey not the truth but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation.

9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil: of the Jew first, and also of the Greek.

10 But glory and honour and peace to every one that worketh good: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

12 For whosoever have sinned without the law shall perish without the law: and whosoever have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.

13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God: but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14 For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these, having not the law, are a law to themselves.

15 Who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them: and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another,

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

17 But if thou art called a Jew and restest in the law and makest thy boast of God,

18 And knowest his will and approvest the more profitable things, being instructed by the law:

19 Art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness,

20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law.

21 Thou therefore, that teachest another, teachest not thyself: thou, that preachest that men should not steal, stealest.

22 Thou, that sayest men should not commit adultery, committest adultery: thou, that abhorrest idols, committest sacrilege:

23 Thou, that makest thy boast of the law, by transgression of the law dishonourest God.

24 (For the name of God through you is blasphemed among the Gentiles, as it is written.)

25 Circumcision profiteth indeed, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

26 If then, the uncircumcised keep the justices of the law, shall not this uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27 And shall not that which by nature is uncircumcision, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law?

28 For it is not he is a Jew, who is so outwardly: nor is that circumcision which is outwardly in the flesh.

29 But he is a Jew that is one inwardly and the circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter: whose praise is not of men, but of God.