The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

Create for me a pure heart, O God! Renew a resolute spirit within me!

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. O God, you are my God! I long for you! My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

I desperately want to be in the courts of the Lord's temple. My heart and my entire being shout for joy to the living God.

Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life's breath returns to God who gave it.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life's breath returns to God who gave it.

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.

When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate it -- even my house -- when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices.

This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary.

For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Paul looked directly at the council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day."

This is the reason I do my best to always have a clear conscience toward God and toward people.

They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them,

But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? read more. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit --

For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants devoted to governing.

If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. What should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will also sing praises with my mind.

it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light.

for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

But now in his own time he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior.

The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

All is pure to those who are pure. But to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the law, because they are useless and empty.

This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to conduct ourselves rightly in every respect.