Psalms 51 Cross References - MSB

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge. ⁵ Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. ⁶ Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 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 gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. 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 right spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. ¹⁶ For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. ¹⁸ In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

⁶ Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

¹⁸ ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

² One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. ⁵ And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” ⁶ At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing with the war. ⁸ Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?” ¹¹ Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!” ¹² “Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

² The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.” ⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.” ⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ ¹¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight. ¹² You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

⁵ Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders.

¹ For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved my distress; show me grace and hear my prayer.

⁷ But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.

⁶ Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion, for they are from age to age. ⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD.

¹¹ O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

⁹ Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

¹³ But my prayer to You, O LORD, is for a time of favor. In Your abundant loving devotion, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation.

¹⁶ Answer me, O LORD, for Your loving devotion is good; turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion.

⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?” Selah

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.

⁴⁵ And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

²¹ But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.

¹²⁴ Deal with Your servant according to Your loving devotion, and teach me Your statutes.

⁹ The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.

²⁵ I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

²² I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

⁷ I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion.

¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.

²³ But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

³² Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.

⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him

¹⁸ Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

¹⁸ Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

²⁰ The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

⁶ to the praise of His glorious grace, by which he has bestowed favor upon us in the Beloved One. ⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

⁴ But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

¹² Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

¹⁶ Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!

¹⁴ Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

²⁵ I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

¹ “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

¹³ For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify your consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has washed us from our sins by His blood,

¹⁴ “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

⁴⁰ But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— ⁴¹ and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,

² Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

²⁷ Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.

⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

¹⁸ Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

¹² For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.

¹³ He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are indeed with us, and we know our iniquities:

²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

¹⁸ I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. ²¹ The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

⁶ Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.

⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.

⁹ No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁹ It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”

² “If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor ³ or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit— ⁴ once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, ⁵ or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt. ⁶ Then he must bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock. ⁷ In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt.”

⁹ Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”

¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

⁶ He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

⁴ He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁶ And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah

²⁹ All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice. For they had received the baptism of John.

²¹ The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

³¹ For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

⁵ But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁴ Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

³ and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations! ⁴ Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

⁵ And I heard the angel of the waters say: “Righteous are You, O Holy One, who is and was, because You have brought these judgments.

¹¹ Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.

³ When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.

²¹ When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

⁴ Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵ If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, ¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

³ The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.

⁶ Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.

³ All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

⁵ Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” ⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”

³ “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

¹⁷ I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.

²⁰ So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God. ²¹ He was diligent in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and the commandments, in order to seek his God. And so he prospered.

⁸ But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?

⁹ For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.

² He who walks with integrity and practices righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart,

² Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.

⁴ Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to the upright in heart.

⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;

³ O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

³³ “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

³⁹ “Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

²³ But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

¹² And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the integrity and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁴ but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

²² Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning.

⁴ the priest shall order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed. ⁵ Then the priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in a clay pot. ⁶ And he is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. ⁷ Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the skin disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and release the live bird into the open field.

⁴⁹ He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house; ⁵⁰ and he shall slaughter one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. ⁵¹ Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² And he shall cleanse the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.

¹⁸ Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain. ¹⁹ The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean. ²⁰ But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

²⁶ to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.

¹⁹ For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people,

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴ “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁷ Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. ¹⁸ For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

² Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony. ³ My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O LORD, how long?

⁵ But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.

¹¹ You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

¹⁰ All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”

³ There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.

⁸¹ My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. ⁸² My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I ask, “When will You comfort me?”

⁵ Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. ⁶ He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.

¹⁰ So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made. ¹⁷ I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

¹ Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds. ² After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.

⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who gladly embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.

²⁹ Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴ Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

¹⁷ Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

¹⁷ For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.

¹⁴ Therefore Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.

³ And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been. ⁴ Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong. ⁵ For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything the LORD commanded all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

⁸ Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

⁹ Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

²⁷ Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”

³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

¹⁹ And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,

³¹ Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?

²⁵ I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

³⁷ This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

⁹ He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.

² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, all things have become new!

¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

²² to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

⁵ He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

⁸ He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

²² Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth through the Spirit so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

¹⁴ Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

³ So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

²⁵ And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹⁴ When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.

²⁰ Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

¹⁰ When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him. Then the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied along with them.

¹⁴ After the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress from the LORD began to torment him.

¹⁵ But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way.

²³ But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence.

¹⁸ So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced. ²⁰ So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence. ²¹ When the LORD had torn Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam led Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin. ²² The Israelites persisted in all the sins that Jeroboam had committed and did not turn away from them. ²³ Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.

²⁷ For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”

²⁰ For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.

² For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

⁹ Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.

¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

¹⁰ But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them. ¹¹ Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them,

¹⁵ And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

¹³ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

⁹ You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

⁹ They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,

² “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, ³ when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,

⁵ My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.

¹³ Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, the king rejoices in Your strength. How greatly he exults in Your salvation!

⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and exult in His salvation.

⁶ Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? ⁷ Show us Your loving devotion, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation. ⁸ I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

¹¹⁶ Sustain me as You promised, that I may live; let me not be ashamed of my hope. ¹¹⁷ Uphold me, and I will be saved, that I may always regard Your statutes.

¹³³ Order my steps in Your word; let no sin rule over me.

¹⁰ Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

¹³ Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

²³ I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.

⁹ They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.” ¹⁰ Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock. ¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him. ¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish. ¹³ Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow. ¹⁴ I will fill the souls of the priests abundantly, and will fill My people with My goodness,” declares the LORD.

⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. ⁶ For at the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! ¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! ¹¹ Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for God is able to make him stand.

¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

⁶ And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir of God through Christ.

⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep them from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

⁷ The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you. ⁹ Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you. ¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but loving devotion surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.

³ And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

¹⁰ Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.

¹ Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel. ⁴ So the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.” ⁵ Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him, as the angel of the LORD stood by. ⁶ Then the angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: ⁷ “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, then you will govern My house and will also have charge of My courts; and I will give you a place among these who are standing here. ⁸ Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you, who are indeed a sign. For behold, I am going to bring My servant, the Branch.

³ “Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.” ¹⁶ Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷ Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

¹⁹ and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. ²⁰ Saul promptly began to proclaim Christ in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.” ²¹ All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” ²² But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

¹⁰ and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?

³ Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.

¹⁸ to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’ ¹⁹ So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. ²⁰ First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone throughout the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.

⁸ We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad. ¹¹ Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well. ¹² For we are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in the heart. ¹³ If we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that if One died for all, therefore all died. ¹⁵ And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again. ¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, all things have become new! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

¹⁹ Brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, ²⁰ consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save (his) soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

²² And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

²⁸ Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.

¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶ So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he saw the strongest enemy soldiers. ¹⁷ And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

⁹ Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

¹ During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

¹³ After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

³³ You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.

⁵ Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

⁹ Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,

²⁸ Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness and Your praises all day long.

²² Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.

²³ But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

²⁰ Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.

¹⁵ My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure. ¹⁶ I will enter in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will proclaim Your righteousness—Yours alone. ¹⁷ O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds. ¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come. ¹⁹ Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You? ²⁰ Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up. ²¹ You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. ²² So I will praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to You with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. ²³ When I sing praise to You my lips will shout for joy, along with my soul, which You have redeemed. ²⁴ My tongue will indeed proclaim Your righteousness all day long, for those who seek my harm are disgraced and confounded.

¹² I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever. ¹³ For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

¹ A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.

² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

¹⁷ But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.

⁸ If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity, yet I will hold you accountable for his blood.

⁷ To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.

¹⁶ O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us.

² Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

¹⁸ yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

⁶ But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

²⁶ Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

³ Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

¹⁶ “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found with the cup.”

¹¹ And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

⁹ He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁴ that I may declare all Your praises—that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

³ Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You. ⁴ So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift my hands. ⁵ My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

¹³ With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth.

²⁷ But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

⁶³ so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”

²¹ In that day I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.

³⁴ And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

¹⁴ But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.

²⁷ Also, if one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering.

³⁰ But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”

³¹ You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.

²² If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

²² But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.

⁶ Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

²⁷ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with ill intent!

¹¹ “What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. ¹² When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts? ¹³ Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me—your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly. ¹⁴ I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

²² For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.

²⁷ When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer.

⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

²¹ “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. ²² Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. ²³ Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.

¹⁹ because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

¹² And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. ¹³ And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

²⁴ For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.

¹⁸ The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.

¹⁷ He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.

²² Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, ² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, ³ to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

² Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.

³ Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side. ⁴ “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

⁶ Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

²¹ “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

³³ and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your soul and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she is a sinner!” ⁴⁰ But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, Teacher,” he said. ⁴¹ “Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Tell Me, which one, then, will love him more?” ⁴³ “I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied. “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. ⁴⁵ You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹ But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

² So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, ⁶ comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷ In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.

¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

²¹ The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. ²⁵ Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ The older son became angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ ‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours. ³² But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ ¹³ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹ Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

¹⁸ I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.

¹⁶ And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

²² Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress.

³⁵ For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.

¹⁶ For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper. ⁷ May there be peace within your walls, and prosperity inside your fortresses.” ⁸ For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” ⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. ⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

² The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.

³ For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

¹ For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still, until her righteousness shines like a bright light, her salvation like a blazing torch.

⁶ On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves, ⁷ nor give Him any rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”

²⁵ Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.

¹¹ The day for rebuilding your walls will come—the day for extending your boundary.

⁵ For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.’”

³² Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

²⁸ Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

⁵ He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

⁹ And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ

¹³ For God it is who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

¹¹ To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith,

⁵ Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD.

¹³ I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You— ¹⁴ the vows that my lips promised and my mouth spoke in my distress. ¹⁵ I will offer You fatlings as burnt offerings, with the fragrant smoke of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah

²⁷ The LORD is God; He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

³ And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

² and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.