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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.

The Waters of Meribah

20The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.

2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron. ³The people quarrelled with Moses and said, ‘Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord! ⁴Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.’ ⁶Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁸Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.

9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. ¹⁰Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?’ ¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. ¹²But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.’ ¹³These are the waters of Meribah,^* where the people of Israel quarrelled with the Lord, and by which he showed his holiness.

Passage through Edom Refused

14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, ‘Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us: ¹⁵how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors; ¹⁶and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King’s Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’

18 But Edom said to him, ‘You shall not pass through, or we will come out with the sword against you.’ ¹⁹The Israelites said to him, ‘We will stay on the highway; and if we drink of your water, we and our livestock, then we will pay for it. It is only a small matter; just let us pass through on foot.’ ²⁰But he said, ‘You shall not pass through.’ And Edom came out against them with a large force, heavily armed. ²¹Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through their territory; so Israel turned away from them.

The Death of Aaron

22 They set out from Kadesh, and the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. ²³Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, ²⁴‘Let Aaron be gathered to his people. For he shall not enter the land that I have given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up Mount Hor; ²⁶strip Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar. But Aaron shall be gathered to his people,^* and shall die there.’ ²⁷Moses did as the Lord had commanded; they went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation. ²⁸Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron for thirty days.

Adam and Christ

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— ¹³sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. ¹⁶And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. ¹⁷If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification^* leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.