Psalms 51; Psalms 52; Psalms 53; Romans 2

Psalms 51

1 Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.

2 Wash away my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.

4 Against You-You alone-I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge.

5 Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

6 Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

9 Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt.

10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach the rebellious Your ways, and sinners will return to You.

14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.

16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; You are not pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.

18 In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Psalms 52

1 Why brag about evil, you hero! God's faithful love is constant.

2 Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery.

3 You love evil instead of good, lying instead of speaking truthfully. Selah

4 You love any words that destroy, you treacherous tongue!

5 This is why God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

6 The righteous will look on with awe and will ridicule him:

7 "Here is the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, taking refuge in his destructive behavior."

8 But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God's faithful love forever and ever.

9 I will praise You forever for what You have done. In the presence of Your faithful people, I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good.

Psalms 53

1 The fool says in his heart, "God does not exist." They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise and who seeks God.

3 Everyone has turned aside; they have all become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.

4 Will evildoers never understand? They consume My people as they consume bread; they do not call on God.

5 Then they will be filled with terror- terror like no other- because God will scatter the bones of those who besiege you. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

6 Oh, that Israel's deliverance would come from Zion! When God restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

Romans 2

1 Therefore, anyone of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.

2 We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.

3 Do you really think-anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same-that you will escape God's judgment?

4 Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

5 But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed.

6 He will repay each one according to his works :

7 eternal life to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

8 but wrath and indignation to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth, but are obeying unrighteousness;

9 affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;

10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

11 There is no favoritism with God.

12 All those who sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

13 For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.

14 So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences testify in support of this, and their competing thoughts either accuse or excuse them

16 on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

17 Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rest in the law, and boast in God,

18 and know His will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,

19 and are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,

20 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the full expression of knowledge and truth-

21 you then, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach, "You must not steal"-do you steal?

22 You who say, "You must not commit adultery"-do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples?

23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

24 For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

25 For circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26 Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the law's requirements, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision?

27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who fulfills the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter [of the law] and circumcision.

28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and [true] circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.

29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart-by the Spirit, not the letter. His praise is not from men but from God.