51  ^wHave mercy on me,¹ O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your ^xabundant mercy

^yblot out my transgressions.

2  ^zWash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and ^acleanse me from my sin!

3  ^bFor I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4  ^cAgainst you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil ^din your sight,

^eso that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

5  Behold, ^fI was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6  Behold, you delight in truth in ^gthe inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7  Purge me ^hwith hyssop, and I shall be clean;

^zwash me, and I shall be ⁱwhiter than snow.

8  Let me hear joy and gladness;

^jlet the bones ^kthat you have broken rejoice.

9  ^lHide your face from my sins,

and ^yblot out all my iniquities.

10  ^mCreate in me a ⁿclean heart, O God,

and ^orenew a right² spirit within me.

11  ^pCast me not away from your presence,

and take not ^qyour 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 ^rreturn to you.

14  Deliver me from ^sbloodguiltiness, O God,

O ^tGod of my salvation,

and ^umy tongue will sing aloud of your ^vrighteousness.

15  O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16  ^wFor you 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 ^xa broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18  ^yDo good to Zion in your good pleasure;

^zbuild up the walls of Jerusalem;

19  then will you delight in ^aright sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and ^bwhole 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 ^dtongue plots destruction,

like ^ea sharp razor, you ^fworker of deceit.

3  You love evil more than good,

and ^glying 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 ^htear you from your tent;

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

6  The righteous shall ^jsee and fear,

and shall ^klaugh at him, saying,

7  “See the man who would not make

God his refuge,

but ^ltrusted in the abundance of his riches

and sought refuge in his own destruction!”²

8  But I am like ^ma green olive tree

in the house of God.

I trust 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, ⁿfor it is good,

in the presence of the ^ogodly.

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

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there 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;

there is none who does good,

not even one.

4  Have 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,

^rwhere there is no terror!

For God ^sscatters 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 restores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

54  O God, save me by your ^vname,

and vindicate me by your might.

2  O God, ^whear my prayer;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

3  ^xFor ^ystrangers² have risen against me;

ruthless men ^zseek my life;

they do not set God before themselves. Selah

4  Behold, ^aGod is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life.

5  He will return the evil to my enemies;

in your ^bfaithfulness ^cput an end to them.

6  With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, ^dfor it is good.

7  For he has delivered me from every trouble,

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

55  ^gGive ear to my prayer, O God,

and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

2  Attend to me, and answer me;

I am restless ^hin my complaint and I ⁱmoan,

3  because of the noise of the enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they ^jdrop trouble upon me,

and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

4  My heart is in anguish within me;

^kthe terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5  Fear and trembling come upon me,

and ^lhorror ^moverwhelms me.

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

I would fly away and be at rest;

7  ⁿyes, I would wander far away;

I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

8  I would hurry to find a shelter

from ^othe raging wind and tempest.”

9  Destroy, O Lord, ^pdivide their tongues;

for I see ^qviolence and strife in the city.

10  Day and night they go around it

on its walls,

and ^riniquity and trouble are within it;

11  ruin is in its midst;

^soppression 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 ^tdeals insolently with me—

then I could hide from him.

13  ^uBut it is you, a man, my equal,

my companion, my familiar friend.

14  We used to take sweet counsel together;

within God’s house we walked in ^vthe throng.

15  Let death steal over them;

let them go down to Sheol ^walive;

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

16  But I call to God,

and the Lord will save me.

17  ^xEvening and ^ymorning and at ^znoon

I ^autter my complaint and moan,

and he hears my voice.

18  He redeems my soul in safety

from the battle that I wage,

for ^bmany are arrayed against me.

19  God will give ear and humble them,

he who is ^centhroned from of old, Selah

because they do not ^dchange

and do not fear God.

20  My companion^{2 e}stretched out his hand against his friends;

he violated his covenant.

21  His ^fspeech was ^gsmooth as butter,

yet war was in his heart;

his words were softer than oil,

yet they were ^hdrawn swords.

22  ⁱCast your burden on the Lord,

and he will sustain you;

^jhe will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

23  But you, O God, ^kwill cast them down

into ^lthe pit of destruction;

men of ^mblood and treachery

shall not ⁿlive out half their days.

But I will ^otrust in you.