Church of England home page Common Worship   Publications Site Map
    Psalm 51  
     
1
  Have mercy on me, O God, in your great goodness; 
    according to the abundance of your compassion
    blot out my offences.
     
2
  Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness 
    and cleanse me from my sin.
     
3
  For I acknowledge my faults 
    and my sin is ever before me.
     
4
  Against you only have I sinned 
    and done what is evil in your sight,
     
5
  So that you are justified in your sentence 
    and righteous in your judgement.
     
6
  I have been wicked even from my birth, 
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.
     
7
  Behold, you desire truth deep within me 
    and shall make me understand wisdom
    in the depths of my heart.
     
8
  Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; 
    wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
     
9
  Make me hear of joy and gladness, 
    that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
     
10
  Turn your face from my sins 
    and blot out all my misdeeds.
     
11
  Make me a clean heart, O God, 
    and renew a right spirit within me.
     
12
  Cast me not away from your presence 
    and take not your holy spirit from me.
     
13
  Give me again the joy of your salvation 
    and sustain me with your gracious spirit;
     
14
  Then shall I teach your ways to the wicked 
    and sinners shall return to you.
     
15
  Deliver me from my guilt, O God,
    the God of my salvation, 
    and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.
     
16
  O Lord, open my lips 
    and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
     
17
  For you desire no sacrifice, else I would give it; 
    you take no delight in burnt offerings.
     
18
  The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; 
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
     
     
19
  O be favourable and gracious to Zion; 
    build up the walls of Jerusalem.
     
20
  Then you will accept sacrifices offered in righteousness,
    the burnt offerings and oblations; 
    then shall they offer up bulls on your altar.
     
    Psalm 52  
     
1
  Why do you glory in evil, you tyrant, 
    while the goodness of God endures continually?
     
2
  You plot destruction, you deceiver; 
    your tongue is like a sharpened razor.
     
3
  You love evil rather than good, 
    falsehood rather than the word of truth.
     
4
  You love all words that hurt, 
    O you deceitful tongue.
     
5
  Therefore God shall utterly bring you down; 
    he shall take you and pluck you out of your tent
    and root you out of the land of the living.
     
6
  The righteous shall see this and tremble; 
    they shall laugh you to scorn, and say:
     
7
  'This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, 
    but trusted in great riches and relied upon wickedness.'
     
     
8
  But I am like a spreading olive tree in the house of God; 
    I trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever.
     
9
  I will always give thanks to you for what you have done; 
    I will hope in your name,
    for your faithful ones delight in it.
     
    Psalm 53  
     
1
  The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' 
    Corrupt are they, and abominable in their wickedness;
    there is no one that does good.
     
2
  God has looked down from heaven upon the children of earth, 
    to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks after God.
     
3
  They are all gone out of the way;
    all alike have become corrupt; 
    there is no one that does good, no not one.
     
     
4
  Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, 
    who eat up my people as if they ate bread,
    and do not call upon God?
     
5
  There shall they be in great fear,
    such fear as never was; 
    for God will scatter the bones of the ungodly.
     
6
  They will be put to shame, 
    because God has rejected them.
     
7
  O that Israel's salvation would come out of Zion! 
    When God restores the fortunes of his people
    then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
     
    Psalm 54  
     
1
  Save me, O God, by your name 
    and vindicate me by your power.
     
2
  Hear my prayer, O God; 
    give heed to the words of my mouth.
     
3
  For strangers have risen up against me,
    and the ruthless seek after my life; 
    they have not set God before them.
     
4
  Behold, God is my helper; 
    it is the Lord who upholds my life.
     
5
  May evil rebound on those who lie in wait for me; 
    destroy them in your faithfulness.
     
6
  An offering of a free heart will I give you 
    and praise your name, O Lord, for it is gracious.
     
7
  For he has delivered me out of all my trouble, 
    and my eye has seen the downfall of my enemies.
     
    Psalm 55  
     
1
  Hear my prayer, O God; 
    hide not yourself from my petition.
     
2
  Give heed to me and answer me; 
    I am restless in my complaining.
     
3
  I am alarmed at the voice of the enemy 
    and at the clamour of the wicked;
     
4
  For they would bring down evil upon me 
    and are set against me in fury.
     
5
  My heart is disquieted within me, 
    and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
     
6
  Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, 
    and a horrible dread has overwhelmed me.
     
7
  And I said: 'O that I had wings like a dove, 
    for then would I fly away and be at rest.
     
8
  'Then would I flee far away 
    and make my lodging in the wilderness.
     
9
  'I would make haste to escape 
    from the stormy wind and tempest.'
     
10
  Confuse their tongues, O Lord, and divide them, 
    for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
     
11
  Day and night they go about on her walls; 
    mischief and trouble are in her midst.
     
12
  Wickedness walks in her streets; 
    oppression and guile never leave her squares.
     
     
13
  For it was not an open enemy that reviled me, 
    for then I could have borne it;
     
14
  Nor was it my adversary that puffed himself up against me, 
    for then I would have hid myself from him.
     
15
  But it was even you, one like myself, 
    my companion and my own familiar friend.
     
16
  We took sweet counsel together 
    and walked with the multitude in the house of God.
     
17
  Let death come suddenly upon them;
    let them go down alive to the Pit; 
    for wickedness inhabits their dwellings, their very hearts.
     
     
18
  As for me, I will call upon God 
    and the Lord will deliver me.
     
19
  In the evening and morning and at noonday
    I will pray and make my supplication, 
    and he shall hear my voice.
     
20
  He shall redeem my soul in peace
    from the battle waged against me, 
    for many have come upon me.
     
21
  God, who is enthroned of old,
    will hear and bring them down; 
    they will not repent, for they have no fear of God.
     
22
  My companion stretched out his hands against his friend 
    and has broken his covenant;
     
23
  His speech was softer than butter, though war was in his heart; 
    his words were smoother than oil, yet are they naked swords.
     
24
  Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you, 
    and will not let the righteous fall for ever.
     
25
  But those that are bloodthirsty and deceitful, O God, 
    you will bring down to the pit of destruction.
     
26
  They shall not live out half their days, 
    but my trust shall be in you, O Lord.
     
© The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, 2000-2004
All of the official Common Worship publications are being published by Church House Publishing.