Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ Listen to the word of the Eternal One,
    you rulers of Sodom!
Attend to God’s instructions,
    citizens of Gomorrah!

¹¹ Eternal One: What do I care for all of your slaughter-gifts?
        I have had enough of your burnt offerings.
    I’m not interested in any more ram meat or fat from your well-fed cattle.
        The blood of bulls, lambs, or goats does not please Me.
¹²     When you come into My presence,
        who told you to trample down the courtyard of My temple bringing all of this?
¹³     Just stop giving Me worthless offerings;
        your incense reeks and offends Me!
    Your feasts and fasts, your new moons and Sabbaths—
        I cannot stand any more of your wicked gatherings.
¹⁴     Likewise, I deplore your holidays,
        those calendar days marked specially for Me;
    They weigh Me down.
        I am sick and tired of them!
¹⁵     When you summon Me with your hands in the air, I will ignore you.
        Even when you pray your whole litany, I won’t be listening
    Because your hands are full of blood and violence.
¹⁶     Wash yourselves, clean up your lives;
        remove every speck of evil in what you do before Me.
    Put an end to all your evil.
¹⁷     Learn to do good;
        commit yourselves to seeking justice.
    Make right for the world’s most vulnerable—
        the oppressed, the orphaned, the widow.

¹⁸     Come on now, let’s walk and talk; let’s work this out.
        Your wrongdoings are bloodred,
    But they can turn as white as snow.
        Your sins are red like crimson,
    But they can be made clean again like new wool.

¹ How happy is the one whose wrongs are forgiven,
    whose sin is hidden from sight.
² How happy is the person whose sin the Eternal will not take into account.^[b]
    How happy are those who no longer lie, to themselves or others.

³ When I refused to admit my wrongs, I was miserable,
    moaning and complaining all day long
    so that even my bones felt brittle.
⁴ Day and night, Your hand kept pressing on me.
    My strength dried up like water in the summer heat;
    You wore me down.

[pause]^[c]

⁵ When I finally saw my own lies,
    I owned up to my sins before You,
    and I did not try to hide my evil deeds from You.
I said to myself, “I’ll admit all my sins to the Eternal,”
    and You lifted and carried away the guilt of my sin.

[pause]

⁶ So let all who are devoted to You
    speak honestly to You now, while You are still listening.
For then when the floods come, surely the rushing water
    will not even reach them.
⁷ You are my hiding place.
    You will keep me out of trouble
    and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free.

[pause]