Psalm 51:1-19


Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When 1Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

aBe gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the abundance of bYour compassion cblot out my transgressions.

2
aWash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And bcleanse me from my sin.

3
For 1I aknow my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.

4
aAgainst You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is bevil in Your sight,
So that cYou 1are justified 2when You speak
And pure when You judge.


5
Behold, I was abrought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

6
Behold, You delight in atruth in the 1innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will bmake me know wisdom.

7
1Purify me awith hyssop, and I shall be clean;
2Wash me, and I shall be bwhiter than snow.

8
1Make me to hear ajoy and gladness,
Let the bbones which You have crushed rejoice.

9
aHide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.


10
aCreate 1in me a bclean heart, O God,
And renew 2a csteadfast spirit within me.

11
aDo not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your bHoly Spirit from me.

12
Restore to me the ajoy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a bwilling spirit.

13
Then I will ateach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will 1be bconverted to You.


14
Deliver me from abloodguiltiness, O God, bthe God of my salvation;
Then my ctongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

15
O Lord, 1aopen my lips,
That my mouth may bdeclare Your praise.

16
For You ado not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.

17
The sacrifices of God are a abroken spirit;
A broken and a 1contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.


18
aBy Your favor do good to Zion;
1bBuild the walls of Jerusalem.

19
Then You will delight in 1arighteous sacrifices,
In bburnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then 2young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Romans 7:1-25


Released from the Law

Or do you not know, abrothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives?
2 For athe married woman has been bound by law to her 1husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law 2concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
4 So, my brothers, you also were amade to die bto the Law cthrough the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
5 For while we were ain the flesh, the sinful passions, which were baroused by the Law, were at work cin our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been areleased from the Law, having bdied to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in cnewness of 1dthe Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
7 aWhat shall we say then? Is the Law sin? bMay it never be! Rather, cI would not have come to know sin except 1through the Law. For I would not have known about 2coveting if the Law had not said, “dYou shall not 2covet.”
8 But sin, ataking opportunity bthrough the commandment, worked out in me 1coveting of every kind. For capart 2from the Law sin is dead. 9 Now I was once alive apart 1from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was 1ato lead to life, was found 2to lead to death for me. 11 For sin, ataking an opportunity bthrough the commandment, cdeceived me and through it killed me. 12 aSo, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

The Conflict of Two Natures

13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? aMay it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would 1become utterly sinful.

14 For we know that the Law is aspiritual, but I am afleshly, bhaving been sold 1cinto bondage under sin.
15 For what I am working out, aI do not understand; for I am not practicing bwhat I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with athe Law, that it is good. 17 So now, ano longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my aflesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. 19 For athe good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, aI am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then athe 1principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God 1in athe inner man, 23 but I see aa different law in my members, waging war against the blaw of my mind and making me a captive 1to cthe law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from 1athe body of this bdeath? 25 1aThanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh bthe law of sin.
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