Psalm 51:1–12

¹Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

³For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Old Testament Reading Proverbs 15:1–29

¹A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
³The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.
⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life,
but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
⁵A fool despises his father’s instruction,
but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
⁶In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge;
not so the hearts of fools.
⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but he loves him who pursues righteousness.
¹⁰There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way;
whoever hates reproof will die.
¹¹Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
¹²A scoffer does not like to be reproved;
he will not go to the wise.
¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
¹⁴The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
¹⁵All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
¹⁶Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble with it.
¹⁷Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
¹⁸A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
¹⁹The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a level highway.
²⁰A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.
²¹Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
²²Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
²³To make an apt answer is a joy to a man,
and a word in season, how good it is!
²⁴The path of life leads upward for the prudent,
that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.
²⁵The Lord tears down the house of the proud
but maintains the widow’s boundaries.
²⁶The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
but gracious words are pure.
²⁷Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household,
but he who hates bribes will live.
²⁸The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
²⁹The Lord is far from the wicked,
but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

New Testament Reading John 15:12–27

¹²[Jesus said:] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

¹⁸“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ²⁷And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”