New International Version NIV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
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Generous in love - God, give grace! Huge in mercy - wipe out my bad record.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
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Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
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I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
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You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
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I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
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What you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
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Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
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Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
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Don't look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
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Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
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Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails!
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
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Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
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Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
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Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
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Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
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I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
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Make Zion the place you delight in, repair Jerusalem's broken-down walls.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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Then you'll get real worship from us, acts of worship small and large, Including all the bulls they can heave onto your altar!
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.