¹ Look on me with a heart of mercy, O God,
    according to Your generous love.
According to Your great compassion,
    wipe out every consequence of my shameful crimes.
² Thoroughly wash me, inside and out, of all my crooked deeds.
    Cleanse me from my sins.

³ For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong,
    and my guilt is there, staring me in the face.
⁴ It was against You, only You, that I sinned,
    for I have done what You say is wrong, right before Your eyes.
So when You speak, You are in the right.
    When You judge, Your judgments are pure and true.^[a]
5 For I was guilty from the day I was born,
    a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.

⁶ But still, You long to enthrone truth throughout my being;
    in unseen places deep within me, You show me wisdom.
⁷ Cleanse me of my wickedness with hyssop, and I will be clean.
    If You wash me, I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Help me hear joy and happiness as my accompaniment,
    so my bones, which You have broken, will dance in delight instead.
⁹ Cover Your face so You will not see my sins,
    and erase my guilt from the record.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God;
    restore within me a sense of being brand new.
¹¹ Do not throw me far away from Your presence,
    and do not remove Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by You;
    let Your willing Spirit sustain me.

¹³ If You do, I promise to teach rebels Your ways
    and help sinners find their way back to You.
¹⁴ Free me from the guilt of murder, of shedding a man’s blood,
    O God who saves me.
    Now my tongue, which was used to destroy, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just You are.

¹⁵ O Lord, pry open my lips
    that this mouth will sing joyfully of Your greatness.
¹⁶ I would surrender my dearest possessions or destroy all that I prize to prove my regret,
    but You don’t take pleasure in sacrifices or burnt offerings.
¹⁷ What sacrifice I can offer You is my broken spirit
    because a broken spirit, O God,
    a heart that honestly regrets the past,
You won’t detest.

¹⁸ Be good to Zion; grant her Your favor.
    Make Jerusalem’s walls steady and strong.
¹⁹ Then there will be sacrifices made,
    burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings,
With right motives that will delight You.
    And costly young bulls will be offered up to Your altar, only the best.

¹ Raise your voices;
    make a beautiful noise to the Eternal, all the earth.
² Serve the Eternal gladly;
    enter into His presence singing songs of joy!

³ Know this: the Eternal One Himself is the True God.
    He is the One who made us;
    we have not made ourselves;
    we are His people, like sheep grazing in His fields.

⁴ Go through His gates, giving thanks;
    walk through His courts, giving praise.
    Offer Him your gratitude and praise His holy name.

⁵ Because the Eternal is good,
    His loyal love and mercy will never end,
    and His truth will last throughout all generations.

⁶ When people are crushed, wronged, enslaved, raped, murdered,
    the Eternal is just;
    He makes the wrongs right.
⁷ He showed Moses His ways;
    He allowed His people Israel to see His wonders and acts of power.
⁸ The Eternal is compassionate and merciful.
    When we cross all the lines, He is patient with us.
    When we struggle against Him, He lovingly stays with us—changing, convicting, prodding;
⁹ He will not constantly criticize,
    nor will He hold a grudge forever.
¹⁰ Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve.
    In His mercy, He tempers justice with peace.
¹¹ Measure how high heaven is above the earth;
    God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him.
¹² You see, God takes all our crimes—our seemingly inexhaustible sins—and removes them.
    As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us.
¹³ An earthly father expresses love for his children;
    it is no different with our heavenly Father;
The Eternal shows His love for those who revere Him.
¹⁴ For He knows what we are made of;
    He knows our frame is frail, and He remembers we came from dust.

¹⁵ The children of Adam are like grass;
    their days are few;
    they flourish for a time like flowers in a meadow.
¹⁶ As the wind blows over the field and the bloom is gone,
    it doesn’t take much to blow us out of the memory of that place.
¹⁷ But the unfailing love of the Eternal is always and eternal
    for those who reverently run after Him.
    He extends His justice on and on to future generations,
¹⁸ To those who will keep His bond of love
    and remember to walk in the guidance of His commands.

¹⁹ The Eternal has established His throne up in the heavens.
    He rules over every seen and unseen realm and creature.
²⁰ Adore Him! Give Him praise, you heavenly messengers,
    you powerful creatures who listen to
    and act on His every word.
²¹ Give praise to the Eternal, all armies of heaven—
    you servants who stand ready to do His will.
²² Give praise to the Eternal, all that He has made
    in all corners of His creation.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal!

⁷ Can I go anywhere apart from Your Spirit?
    Is there anywhere I can go to escape Your watchful presence?

⁸ If I go up into heaven, You are there.
    If I make my bed in the realm of the dead, You are there.
⁹ If I ride on the wings of morning,
    if I make my home in the most isolated part of the ocean,
¹⁰ Even then You will be there to guide me;
    Your right hand will embrace me, for You are always there.
¹¹ Even if I am afraid and think to myself, “There is no doubt that the darkness will swallow me,
    the light around me will soon be turned to night,”
¹² You can see in the dark, for it is not dark to Your eyes.
    For You the night is just as bright as the day.
    Darkness and light are the same to Your eyes.

¹³ For You shaped me, inside and out.
    You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath.
¹⁴ I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.
    You have approached even the smallest details with excellence;
    Your works are wonderful;
I carry this knowledge deep within my soul.
¹⁵     You see all things; nothing about me was hidden from You
As I took shape in secret,
    carefully crafted in the heart of the earth before I was born from its womb.
¹⁶ You see all things;
    You saw me growing, changing in my mother’s womb;
Every detail of my life was already written in Your book;
    You established the length of my life before I ever tasted the sweetness of it.
¹⁷ Your thoughts and plans are treasures to me, O God! I cherish each and every one of them!
    How grand in scope! How many in number!
¹⁸ If I could count each one of them, they would be more than all the grains of sand on earth. Their number is inconceivable!
    Even when I wake up, I am still near to You.

¹⁹ I wish You would destroy all the wicked, O God.
    So keep away from me, those who are thirsty for blood!
²⁰ For they say such horrible things about You,
    and those who are against You abuse Your good name.
²¹ Is it not true that I hate all who hate You, Eternal One?
    Is it not true that I despise all who come against You?
²² Deep hatred boils within me toward them;
    I am Your friend, and they are my enemies.
²³ Explore me, O God, and know the real me. Dig deeply and discover who I am.
    Put me to the test and watch how I handle the strain.
²⁴ Examine me to see if there is an evil bone in me,
    and guide me down Your path forever.