51  ^jHave mercy on me,¹ O God,

^kaccording to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

^lblot out my transgressions.

2  ^mWash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and ⁿcleanse me from my sin!

3  For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4  ^oAgainst you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

^pso that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

5  Behold, I was ^qbrought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6  Behold, you delight in truth ^rin the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7  Purge me with ^shyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be ^twhiter than snow.

8  Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken ^urejoice.

9  Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right² spirit within me.

11  ^vCast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13  Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

14  Deliver me from ^wbloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15  O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16  For ^xyou will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a ^ybroken and ^zcontrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18  ^aDo good to Zion in your good pleasure;

^bbuild up the walls of Jerusalem;

19  then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

52  Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?

The steadfast love of God endures all the day.

2  Your tongue plots destruction,

like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.

3  You ^elove evil more than good,

and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah

4  You love all words that devour,

O deceitful tongue.

5  But God will break you down forever;

he will snatch and tear you from your tent;

he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

6  The righteous shall see and fear,

and shall laugh at him, saying,

7  “See the man who would not make

God his refuge,

but ^ftrusted in the abundance of his riches

and sought refuge in his own destruction!”²

8  But I am like a ^ggreen olive tree

in the house of God.

I ^htrust in the steadfast love of God

forever and ever.

9  I will thank you forever,

because you have done it.

I will wait for your name, ⁱfor it is good,

in the presence of the godly.

53  ^kThe fool says in his heart, ^l“There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

^mthere is none who does good.

2  God looks down from heaven

on the children of man

to see if there are any who understand,²

who seek after God.

3  They have all fallen away;

together they have become corrupt;

ⁿthere is none who does good,

not even one.

4  ^oHave those who work evil no knowledge,

who eat up my people as they eat bread,

and do not call upon God?

5  There they are, in great terror,

where there is no terror!

For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;

you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

6  Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When God ^prestores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

54  O God, save me by your name,

and vindicate me by your might.

2  O God, hear my prayer;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

3  For ^rstrangers² have risen against me;

ruthless men seek my life;

they do not set God before themselves. Selah

4  Behold, God is my ^shelper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life.

5  ^tHe will return the evil to my enemies;

in your faithfulness ^uput an end to them.

6  With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

^vI will give thanks to your name, O Lord, ^wfor it is good.

7  For he has ^xdelivered me from every trouble,

and my eye has ^ylooked in triumph on my enemies.

55  Give ear to my prayer, O God,

and ^zhide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

2  Attend to me, and answer me;

I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

3  because of the noise of the enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they drop trouble upon me,

and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

4  My heart is in anguish within me;

the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5  Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror overwhelms me.

6  And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest;

7  yes, I would wander far away;

I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

8  I would hurry to find a shelter

from the raging wind and tempest.”

9  Destroy, O Lord, ^adivide their tongues;

for I see violence and strife in the city.

10  Day and night they go around it

on its walls,

and iniquity and trouble are within it;

11  ruin is in its midst;

oppression and fraud

do not depart from its marketplace.

12  For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—

then I could hide from him.

13  But it is you, a man, my equal,

my companion, my ^bfamiliar friend.

14  We used to take sweet counsel together;

within God’s house we walked ^cin the throng.

15  Let death steal over them;

let them go down to Sheol ^dalive;

for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

16  But I call to God,

and the Lord will save me.

17  Evening and ^emorning and at noon

I utter my complaint and moan,

and he hears my voice.

18  He redeems my soul in safety

from the battle that I wage,

for many are arrayed against me.

19  God will give ear and humble them,

he who is enthroned from of old, Selah

because they do not change

and do not fear God.

20  My companion² stretched out his hand against his friends;

he violated his covenant.

21  His speech was smooth as butter,

^fyet war was in his heart;

^ghis words were softer than oil,

yet they were drawn swords.

22  ^hCast your burden on the Lord,

and he will sustain you;

ⁱhe will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

23  But you, O God, will cast them down

into the pit of destruction;

men of blood and treachery

shall not live out half their days.

But I will trust in you.