Psalm 51 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 51 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Verse 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Verse 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Verse 4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
Verse 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
Verse 6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Verse 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Verse 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Verse 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Verse 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Verse 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Verse 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Verse 13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Verse 14Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
Verse 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
Verse 16For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
Verse 17The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Verse 18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
Verse 19then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Devotion
The word mercy pulses through scripture like a heartbeat, just as it does in various litanies in the liturgy. Some feel the term suggests a guilty prisoner pleading before a judge. Indeed, in that context the plea for mercy is an appeal for clemency. It can have that connotation in the Bible as well. But in a larger sense, mercy is associated with God’s loving kindness and continued forbearance. That is likely what the psalmist has in mind when he prays, “Have mercy on me, O God.” We shall be taking note of God’s tender mercies this Lent. That is what we anticipate on the way to the cross.
Prayer
For the peace from above, and for our salvation, we pray to the Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, we pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. Amen.