Blessed Are the Forgiven
A sMaskil1 of David.
1 tBlessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is ucovered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord vcounts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, wmy bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up2 as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you xforgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you yat a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
7 You are a zhiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will acounsel you bwith my eye upon you.
9 cBe not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who dtrusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you eupright in heart!
Return to the Lord
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
g“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is hgracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and ihe relents over disaster.
14 jWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a kblessing behind him,
a lgrain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 mBlow the trumpet in Zion;
nconsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the oelders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 pBetween the vestibule and the altar
qlet the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a rreproach,
a byword among the nations.1
Why should they say among the peoples,
s‘Where is their God?’”
5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had bno rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. 6 But God, who ccomforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of dTitus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 8 For eeven if I made you grieve with fmy letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. 13 Therefore we are gcomforted.
And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
