Psalms 51

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when ^aNathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 ^bHave mercy on me, ▼

▼Or Be gracious to me

O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your ^dabundant mercy
^eblot out my transgressions.
2 ^fWash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and ^gcleanse me from my sin!
3 ^hFor I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 ⁱAgainst you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil ^jin your sight,
^kso that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5Behold, ^lI was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6Behold, you delight in truth in ^mthe inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me ⁿwith hyssop, and I shall be clean;
^owash me, and I shall be ^pwhiter than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness;
^qlet the bones ^rthat you have broken rejoice.
9 ^sHide your face from my sins,
and ^tblot out all my iniquities.
10 ^uCreate in me a ^vclean heart, O God,
and ^wrenew a right ▼

▼Or steadfast

spirit within me.
11 ^yCast me not away from your presence,
and take not ^zyour Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore 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 ^aareturn to you.
14Deliver me from ^abbloodguiltiness, O God,
O ^acGod of my salvation,
and ^admy tongue will sing aloud of your ^aerighteousness.
15O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 ^afFor you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are ^aga broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 ^ahDo good to Zion in your good pleasure;
^aibuild up the walls of Jerusalem;
19then will you delight in ^ajright sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and ^akwhole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Romans 7

Released from the Law

1Or do you not know, brothers ▼

▼Or  brothers and sisters; also verse 4

—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2For ^ama married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. ▼

▼Greek law concerning the husband

3Accordingly, ^aoshe will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4Likewise, my brothers, ^apyou also have died ^aqto the law ^arthrough the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, ^asin order that we may bear fruit for God. 5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work ^atin our members ^auto bear fruit for death. 6But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the ^avnew way of ^awthe Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. ▼

▼Greek  of the letter

The Law and Sin

7What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^ayI would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^azthe law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8But sin, ^baseizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^bbFor apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10The very commandment ^bcthat promised life proved to be death to me. 11For sin, ^bdseizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^bedeceived me and through it killed me. 12So ^bfthe law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^bgsold under sin. 15For I do not understand my own actions. For ^bhI do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^bithe law, that it is good. 17So now ^bjit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells ^bkin me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 ^blFor I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, ^bmit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For ^bnI delight in the law of God, ^boin my inner being, 23but I see in my members ^bpanother law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^bqthis body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.