Psalm 51 New International Version (NIV)

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalm 49 Good News Translation (GNT)

49 Hear this, everyone!
Listen, all people everywhere,
²     great and small alike,
    rich and poor together.
³ My thoughts will be clear;
    I will speak words of wisdom.
⁴ I will turn my attention to proverbs
    and explain their meaning as I play the harp.

⁵ I am not afraid in times of danger
    when I am surrounded by enemies,
⁶ by evil people who trust in their riches
    and boast of their great wealth.
⁷ We can never redeem ourselves;
    we cannot pay God the price for our lives,
⁸     because the payment for a human life is too great.
What we could pay would never be enough
⁹     to keep us from the grave,
    to let us live forever.

¹⁰ Anyone can see that even the wise die,
    as well as the foolish and stupid.
    They all leave their riches to their descendants.
¹¹ Their graves are their homes forever;
    there they stay for all time,
    though they once had lands of their own.
¹² Our greatness cannot keep us from death;
    we will still die like the animals.

¹³ See what happens to those who trust in themselves,
    the fate of those who are satisfied with their wealth—
¹⁴ they are doomed to die like sheep,
    and Death will be their shepherd.
The righteous will triumph over them,
    as their bodies quickly decay
    in the world of the dead far from their homes.
¹⁵ But God will rescue me;
    he will save me from the power of death.

¹⁶ Don’t be upset when someone becomes rich,
    when his wealth grows even greater;
¹⁷ he cannot take it with him when he dies;
    his wealth will not go with him to the grave.
¹⁸ Even if someone is satisfied with this life
    and is praised because he is successful,
¹⁹ he will join all his ancestors in death,
    where the darkness lasts forever.
²⁰ Our greatness cannot keep us from death;
    we will still die like the animals.

Psalm 48 New International Version (NIV)

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹ Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
    in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

² Beautiful in its loftiness,
    the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,
    the city of the Great King.
³ God is in her citadels;
    he has shown himself to be her fortress.

⁴ When the kings joined forces,
    when they advanced together,
⁵ they saw her and were astounded;
    they fled in terror.
⁶ Trembling seized them there,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.
⁷ You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
    shattered by an east wind.

⁸ As we have heard,
    so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
    in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
    forever.

⁹ Within your temple, O God,
    we meditate on your unfailing love.
¹⁰ Like your name, O God,
    your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
    your right hand is filled with righteousness.
¹¹ Mount Zion rejoices,
    the villages of Judah are glad
    because of your judgments.

¹² Walk about Zion, go around her,
    count her towers,
¹³ consider well her ramparts,
    view her citadels,
that you may tell of them
    to the next generation.

¹⁴ For this God is our God for ever and ever;
    he will be our guide even to the end.

Psalm 47, read from our own Church Bible, which was presented to the former Orbiston Parish Church by the Woman’s Guild. Click the audio player below the images to hear God’s Word.

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