And Nathan said to David: Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee from the hand of Saul,8 And gave thee thy master’s house and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and Juda: and if these things be little, I shall add far greater things unto thee.9 Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hethite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.10 Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Hethite to be thy wife.13 And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die.
If you like, however, I will give you further examples relating to our condition. Come then to the blessed David, and take him for your example of repentance. Great as he was, he suffered a fall. It was in the afternoon, after his siesta, that he took a turn on the housetop and saw by chance what stirred his human passion. He fulfilled the sinful deed, but his nobility, when it came to confessing the lapse, had not perished with the doing of the deed. Nathan the prophet came, swift to convict, but now as a healer for his wound, saying, "The Lord was angry, and you have sinned." So spoke a simple subject to his reigning sovereign. But David, though king and robed in purple, did not take it amiss, for he had regard not to the rank of the speaker but to the majesty of him who sent him. He was not puffed up by the fact that guardsmen were drawn up all around him, for the angelic host of the Lord came to his mind and he was in terror "as seeing him who is invisible." So he answered and said to the man that came to him, or rather, in his person, to the God whose messenger he was, "I have sinned against the Lord." You see this royal humility and the making of confession. Surely no one had been convicting him, nor were there many who knew what he had done. Swiftly the deed was done and immediately the prophet appeared as accuser. Lo! The sinner confesses his wicked deed, and as it was full and frank confession, he had the swiftest healing. For the prophet Nathan first threatened him, but then said immediately, "And the Lord has put away your sin." And see how quickly lovingkindness changes the face of God! Except that he first declares, "you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" as though he said "you have many that are your foes because of your righteousness, from whom nevertheless, you were kept safe by your upright living. But as you have thrown away this best of armors, you have now, standing ready to strike, these foes that are risen up against you."So then the prophet comforted David as we have seen, but that blessed man, though he received most gladly the assurance, "The Lord has put away your sin," did not, king as he was, draw back from penitence. Indeed he put on sackcloth in place of his purple robe, and the king sat in ashes on the bare earth instead of on his gilded throne. And in ashes he did not merely sit, but took them for eating, as he himself says, "I have eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled my drink with weeping." His lustful eye he wasted away with tears; as he says, "every night I wash my bed and water my couch with my tears." And when his courtiers exhorted him to eat food, he would not, but prolonged his fast for seven whole days.
To David himself, understanding. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile.5 I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.7 Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my joy, deliver me from them that surround me.11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory, all ye right of heart.
He caused a light to shine at the prayer of the psalmist, who said, "My Joy, deliver me from those who surround me"; this being indeed true rejoicing, this being a true feast, even deliverance from wickedness, to which a person attains by thoroughly adopting an upright conversation and being approved in his mind of godly submission toward God.
People have special need of [understanding], for when they have lost it, they become like horses and mules. Thus he says: I was turned to misery when thorns were thrust in me—that is, the sin that tormented him. On that account he says to God: I have shown you my sin, and my lawlessness I did not hide from you; and you removed my wickedness. The first duty of repentance is for a person to confess his sin, according to [the saying]: God will have mercy on him who confesses his sins and abandons them.
Even if there are many scourges of the sinner, yet mercy will surround one who trusts in the Lord, and the just will rejoice because their boast is in the Lord.
But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.†19 For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I may live to God: with Christ I am nailed to the cross.†20 And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me.†21 I cast not away the grace of God. For if justice be by the law, then Christ died in vain.†
I no longer wish to live after the manner of men, and my desire shall be fulfilled if ye consent. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet no longer I, since Christ liveth in me." I entreat you in this brief letter: do not refuse me; believe me that I love Jesus, who was delivered [to death] for my sake. "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me?" Now God, even the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, shall reveal these things to you, [so that ye shall know] that I speak truly. And do ye pray along with me, that I may attain my aim in the Holy Spirit. I have not written to you according to the flesh, but according to the will of God. If I shall suffer, ye have loved me; but if I am rejected, ye have hated me.
And one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him. And he went into the house of the Pharisee, and sat down to meat.37 And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment;38 And standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet, with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.†39 And the Pharisee, who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner.40 And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it.41 A certain creditor had two debtors, the one who owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.42 And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him most?43 Simon answering, said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him: Thou hast judged rightly.44 And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them.45 Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed my feet.47 Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less.48 And he said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee.49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves: Who is this that forgiveth sins also?50 And he said to the woman: Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace.†1 And it came to pass afterwards, that he travelled through the cities and towns, preaching and evangelizing the kingdom of God; and the twelve with him:2 And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth,†3 And Joanna the wife of Chusa, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who ministered unto him of their substance.
And the elders of the Jews indeed demand favours for a small sum spent in the service of the synagogue, but the Lord not for this, but a higher reason, manifested Himself, wishing in truth to beget a belief in all men by His own power, as it follows, Then Jesus went with them.
Although that centurion was strong in battle, and the prefect of the Roman soldiers, yet because his particular attendant lay sick at his house, considering what wonderful things the Saviour had done in healing the sick, and judging that these miracles were performed by no human power, he sends to Him, as unto God, not looking to the visible instrument by which He had intercourse with men; as it follows, And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him, &c.
Because also they believed, they justified God, for He appeared just to them in all that He did. But the disobedient conduct of the Pharisees in not receiving John, accorded not with the words of the prophet, That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest. (Ps. 51:4.) Hence it follows, But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God, &c.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)