Bible Society of South Africa

Bible Reading Plan – Day 109

Bible text(s)

Psalms 51

A Prayer for Forgiveness

1Be merciful to me, O God,

because of your constant love.

Because of your great mercy

wipe away my sins!

2Wash away all my evil

and make me clean from my sin!

3I recognize my faults;

I am always conscious of my sins.

4I have sinned against you — only against you —

and done what you consider evil.

So you are right in judging me;

you are justified in condemning me.

5I have been evil from the day I was born;

from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful.

6Sincerity and truth are what you require;

fill my mind with your wisdom.

7Remove my sin, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness;

and though you have crushed me and broken me,

I will be happy once again.

9Close your eyes to my sins

and wipe out all my evil.

10Create a pure heart in me, O God,

and put a new and loyal spirit in me.

11Do not banish me from your presence;

do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.

12Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation,

and make me willing to obey you.

13Then I will teach sinners your commands,

and they will turn back to you.

14Spare my life, O God, and save me,

and I will gladly proclaim your righteousness.

15Help me to speak, Lord,

and I will praise you.

16You do not want sacrifices,

or I would offer them;

you are not pleased with burnt offerings.

17My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God;

you will not reject a humble and repentant heart.

18O God, be kind to Zion and help her;

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

19Then you will be pleased with proper sacrifices

and with our burnt offerings;

and bulls will be sacrificed on your altar.

Psalms 52

God's Judgement and Grace

1Why do you boast, great one, of your evil?

God's faithfulness is eternal.

2You make plans to ruin others;

your tongue is like a sharp razor.

You are always inventing lies.

3You love evil more than good

and falsehood more than truth.

4You love to hurt people with your words, you liar!

5So God will ruin you for ever;

he will take hold of you and snatch you from your home;

he will remove you from the world of the living.

6Righteous people will see this and be afraid;

then they will laugh at you and say,

7“Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety,

but trusted instead in his great wealth

and looked for security in being wicked.”

8But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God;

I trust in his constant love for ever and ever.

9I will always thank you, God, for what you have done;

in the presence of your people

I will proclaim that you are good.

Psalms 53

Human Wickedness

(Ps 14)

1Fools say to themselves,

“There is no God.”

They are all corrupt,

and they have done terrible things;

there is no one who does what is right.

2God looks down from heaven at the human race

to see if there are any who are wise,

any who worship him.

3But they have all turned away;

they are all equally bad.

Not one of them does what is right,

not a single one.

4“Don't they know?” God asks.

“Are these evildoers ignorant?

They live by robbing my people,

and they never pray to me.”

5But then they will be terrified,

as they have never been before,

for God will scatter the bones of the enemies of his people.

God has rejected them,

and so Israel will totally defeat them.

6How I pray that victory

will come to Israel from Zion.

How happy the people of Israel will be

when God makes them prosperous again!

Psalms 54

A Prayer for Protection from Enemies

1Save me by your power, O God;

set me free by your might!

2Hear my prayer, O God;

listen to my words!

3Proud men are coming to attack me;

cruel men are trying to kill me —

men who do not care about God.

4But God is my helper.

The Lord is my defender.

5May God use their own evil to punish my enemies.

He will destroy them because he is faithful.

6I will gladly offer you a sacrifice, O LORD;

I will give you thanks

because you are good.

7You have rescued me from all my troubles,

and I have seen my enemies defeated.

Psalms 55

The Prayer of Someone Betrayed by a Friend

1Hear my prayer, O God;

don't turn away from my plea!

2Listen to me and answer me;

I am worn out by my worries.

3I am terrified by the threats of my enemies,

crushed by the oppression of the wicked.

They bring trouble on me;

they are angry with me and hate me.

4I am terrified,

and the terrors of death crush me.

5I am gripped by fear and trembling;

I am overcome with horror.

6I wish I had wings, like a dove.

I would fly away and find rest.

7I would fly far away

and make my home in the desert.

8I would quickly find myself a shelter

from the raging wind and the storm.

9Confuse the speech of my enemies, O Lord!

I see violence and riots in the city,

10surrounding it day and night,

filling it with crime and trouble.

11There is destruction everywhere;

the streets are full of oppression and fraud.

12If it were an enemy that mocked me,

I could endure it;

if it were an opponent boasting over me,

I could hide myself from him.

13But it is you, my companion,

my colleague and close friend.

14We had intimate talks with each other

and worshipped together in the Temple.

15May my enemies die before their time;

may they go down alive into the world of the dead!

Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

16But I call to the LORD God for help,

and he will save me.

17Morning, noon, and night

my complaints and groans go up to him,

and he will hear my voice.

18He will bring me safely back

from the battles that I fight

against so many enemies.

19God, who has ruled from eternity,

will hear me and defeat them;

for they refuse to change,

and they do not fear him.

20My former companion attacked his friends;

he broke his promises.

21His words were smoother than cream,

but there was hatred in his heart;

his words were as soothing as oil,

but they cut like sharp swords.

22Leave your troubles with the LORD,

and he will defend you;

he never lets honest people be defeated.

23But you, O God, will bring those murderers and liars to their graves

before half their life is over.

As for me, I will trust in you.

Psalms 56

A Prayer of Trust in God

1Be merciful to me, O God,

because I am under attack;

my enemies persecute me all the time.

2All day long my opponents attack me.

There are so many who fight against me.

3When I am afraid, O LORD Almighty,

I put my trust in you.

4I trust in God and am not afraid;

I praise him for what he has promised.

What can a mere human being do to me?

5My enemies make trouble for me all day long;

they are always planning how to hurt me!

6They gather in hiding places

and watch everything I do,

hoping to kill me.

7Punish them, O God, for their evil;

defeat those people in your anger!

8You know how troubled I am;

you have kept a record of my tears.

Aren't they listed in your book?

9The day I call to you,

my enemies will be turned back.

I know this: God is on my side —

10the LORD, whose promises I praise.

11In him I trust, and I will not be afraid.

What can a mere human being do to me?

12O God, I will offer you what I have promised;

I will give you my offering of thanksgiving,

13because you have rescued me from death

and kept me from defeat.

And so I walk in the presence of God,

in the light that shines on the living.

Psalms 57

A Prayer for Help

1Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful,

because I come to you for safety.

In the shadow of your wings I find protection

until the raging storms are over.

2I call to God, the Most High,

to God, who supplies my every need.

3He will answer from heaven and save me;

he will defeat my oppressors.

God will show me his constant love and faithfulness.

4I am surrounded by enemies,

who are like lions hungry for human flesh.

Their teeth are like spears and arrows;

their tongues are like sharp swords.

5Show your greatness in the sky, O God,

and your glory over all the earth.

6My enemies have spread a net to catch me;

I am overcome with distress.

They dug a pit in my path,

but fell into it themselves.

7I have complete confidence, O God;

I will sing and praise you!

8Wake up, my soul!

Wake up, my harp and lyre!

I will wake up the sun.

9I will thank you, O Lord, among the nations.

I will praise you among the peoples.

10Your constant love reaches the heavens;

your faithfulness touches the skies.

11Show your greatness in the sky, O God,

and your glory over all the earth.

Psalms 51:1-57:11GNBOpen in Bible reader
Bible Society of South Africav.4.24.4
Find us on