Psalms 51; Psalms 52; Psalms 53

1 Be merciful to me, O God, because of your constant love. Because of your great mercy wipe away my sins!

2 Wash away all my evil and make me clean from my sin!

3 I recognize my faults; I am always conscious of my sins.

4 I have sinned against you - only against you - and done what you consider evil. So you are right in judging me; you are justified in condemning me.

5 I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful.

6 Sincerity and truth are what you require; fill my mind with your wisdom.

7 Remove my sin, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness; and though you have crushed me and broken me, I will be happy once again.

9 Close your eyes to my sins and wipe out all my evil.

10 Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.

11 Do not banish me from your presence; do not take your holy spirit away from me.

12 Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

13 Then I will teach sinners your commands, and they will turn back to you.

14 Spare my life, O God, and save me, and I will gladly proclaim your righteousness.

15 Help me to speak, Lord, and I will praise you.

16 You do not want sacrifices, or I would offer them; you are not pleased with burnt offerings.

17 My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God; you will not reject a humble and repentant heart.

18 O God, be kind to Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will be pleased with proper sacrifices and with our burnt offerings; and bulls will be sacrificed on your altar.

1 Why do you boast, great one, of your evil? God's faithfulness is eternal.

2 You make plans to ruin others; your tongue is like a sharp razor. You are always inventing lies.

3 You love evil more than good and falsehood more than truth.

4 You love to hurt people with your words, you liar!

5 So God will ruin you forever; he will take hold of you and snatch you from your home; he will remove you from the world of the living.

6 Righteous people will see this and be afraid; then they will laugh at you and say,

7 "Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety, but trusted instead in great wealth and looked for security in being wicked."

8 But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God; I trust in his constant love forever and ever.

9 I will always thank you, God, for what you have done; in the presence of your people I will proclaim that you are good.

1 Fools say to themselves, "There is no God." They are all corrupt, and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right.

2 God looks down from heaven at people to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

3 But they have all turned away; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

4 "Don't they know?" God asks. "Are these evildoers ignorant? They live by robbing my people, and they never pray to me."

5 But then they will become terrified, as they have never been before, for God will scatter the bones of the enemies of his people. God has rejected them, and so Israel will totally defeat them.

6 How I pray that victory will come to Israel from Zion. How happy the people of Israel will be when God makes them prosperous again!