Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹ I lift my eyes to you,
    O God, enthroned in heaven.
² We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy,
    just as servants keep their eyes on their master,
    as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.
³ Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
    for we have had our fill of contempt.
⁴ We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud
    and the contempt of the arrogant.

¹⁷ “Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.
    Do they ever have trouble?
    Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?
¹⁸ Are they driven before the wind like straw?
    Are they carried away by the storm like chaff?
    Not at all!

¹⁹ “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’
    But I say he should punish the ones who sin,
    so that they understand his judgment.
²⁰ Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.
    Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
²¹ For they will not care what happens to their family
    after they are dead.

²² “But who can teach a lesson to God,
    since he judges even the most powerful?
²³ One person dies in prosperity,
    completely comfortable and secure,
²⁴ the picture of good health,
    vigorous and fit.
²⁵ Another person dies in bitter poverty,
    never having tasted the good life.
²⁶ But both are buried in the same dust,
    both eaten by the same maggots.

²⁷ “Look, I know what you’re thinking.
    I know the schemes you plot against me.
²⁸ You will tell me of rich and wicked people
    whose houses have vanished because of their sins.
²⁹ But ask those who have been around,
    and they will tell you the truth.
³⁰ Evil people are spared in times of calamity
    and are allowed to escape disaster.
³¹ No one criticizes them openly
    or pays them back for what they have done.
³² When they are carried to the grave,
    an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.
³³ A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery.
    Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest,
    and the earth gives sweet repose.

³⁴ “How can your empty clichés comfort me?
    All your explanations are lies!”