Psalms 51; Psalms 52; Psalms 53; Romans 2

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!

2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin!

3 Because I know my wrongdoings, my sin is always right in front of me.

4 I've sinned against you—you alone. I've committed evil in your sight. That's why you are justified when you render your verdict, completely correct when you issue your judgment.

5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me.

6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.

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 celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.

9 Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds!

10 Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!

11 Please don't throw me out of your presence; please don't take your holy spirit away from me.

12 Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways, and sinners will come back to you.

14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.

16 You don't want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering, you wouldn't be pleased.

17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won't despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.

18 Do good things for Zion by your favor. Rebuild Jerusalem's walls.

19 Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness— entirely burned offerings and complete offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

1 Hey, powerful person! Why do you brag about evil? God's faithful love lasts all day long.

2 Your tongue devises destruction: it's like a sharpened razor, causing deception.

3 You love evil more than good; you love lying more than speaking what is right. Selah

4 You love all destructive words; you love the deceiving tongue.

5 But God will take you down permanently; he will snatch you up, tear you out of your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living! Selah

6 The righteous will see and be in awe; they will laugh at those people:

7 "Look at them! They didn't make God their refuge. Instead, they trusted in their own great wealth. They sought refuge in it—to their own destruction!"

8 But I am like a green olive tree in God's house; I trust in God's faithful love forever and always.

9 I will give thanks to you, God, forever, because you have acted. In the presence of your faithful people, I will hope in your name because it's so good.

1 Fools say in their hearts, There's no God. They are corrupt and do horrible deeds; not one of them does anything good.

2 God looks down from heaven on humans to see if anyone is wise, to see if anyone seeks God.

3 But all have turned away. Everyone is corrupt. No one does good— not even one person!

4 Are they dumb—these evildoers— devouring my people like they are eating bread but never calling on God?

5 There, where there was nothing to fear, they will be in utter panic because God will scatter the bones of those who attacked you. You will put them to shame because God has rejected them.

6 Let Israel's salvation come out of Zion! When God changes his people's circumstances for the better, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will celebrate!

1 So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. You condemn yourself when you judge another person because the one who is judging is doing the same things.

2 We know that God's judgment agrees with the truth, and his judgment is against those who do these kinds of things.

3 If you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this: Do you believe that you will escape God's judgment?

4 Or do you have contempt for the riches of God's generosity, tolerance, and patience? Don't you realize that God's kindness is supposed to lead you to change your heart and life?

5 You are storing up wrath for yourself because of your stubbornness and your heart that refuses to change. God's just judgment will be revealed on the day of wrath.

6 God will repay everyone based on their works.

7 On the one hand, he will give eternal life to those who look for glory, honor, and immortality based on their patient good work.

8 But on the other hand, there will be wrath and anger for those who obey wickedness instead of the truth because they are acting out of selfishness and disobedience.

9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

10 But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

11 God does not have favorites.

12 Those who have sinned outside the Law will also die outside the Law, and those who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law.

13 It isn't the ones who hear the Law who are righteous in God's eyes. It is the ones who do what the Law says who will be treated as righteous.

14 Gentiles don't have the Law. But when they instinctively do what the Law requires they are a Law in themselves, though they don't have the Law.

15 They show the proof of the Law written on their hearts, and their consciences affirm it. Their conflicting thoughts will accuse them, or even make a defense for them,

16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the hidden truth about human beings through Christ Jesus.

17 But, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the Law; if you brag about your relationship to God;

18 if you know the will of God; if you are taught by the Law so that you can figure out the things that really matter;

19 if you have persuaded yourself that you are: a guide for the blind; a light to those who are in darkness;

20 an educator of the foolish; a teacher of infants (since you have the full content of knowledge and truth in the Law);

21 then why don't you who are teaching others teach yourself? If you preach, "No stealing," do you steal?

22 If you say, "No adultery," do you commit adultery? If you hate idols, do you rob temples?

23 If you brag about the Law, do you shame God by breaking the Law?

24 As it is written: The name of God is discredited by the Gentiles because of you.

25 Circumcision is an advantage if you do what the Law says. But if you are a person who breaks the Law, your status of being circumcised has changed into not being circumcised.

26 So if the person who isn't circumcised keeps the Law, won't his status of not being circumcised be counted as if he were circumcised?

27 The one who isn't physically circumcised but keeps the Law will judge you. You became a lawbreaker after you had the written Law and circumcision.

28 It isn't the Jew who maintains outward appearances who will receive praise from God, and it isn't people who are outwardly circumcised on their bodies.

29 Instead, it is the person who is a Jew inside, who is circumcised in spirit, not literally. That person's praise doesn't come from people but from God.