Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Hear, Lord, my plea for justice;
    pay heed to my cry;
Listen to my prayer
    from lips without guile.
² From you let my vindication come;
    your eyes see what is right.
³ You have tested my heart,
    searched it in the night.^(A)
You have tried me by fire,
    but find no malice in me.
My mouth has not transgressed
⁴     as others often do.
As your lips have instructed me,
    I have kept from the way of the lawless.
⁵ My steps have kept to your paths;
    my feet have not faltered.^(B)

⁶ I call upon you; answer me, O God.
    Turn your ear to me; hear my speech.
⁷ Show your wonderful mercy,
    you who deliver with your right arm
    those who seek refuge from their foes.
^8 [b]Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings
⁹     from the wicked who despoil me.^(C)

My ravenous enemies press upon me;^{(D)
10     [c]}they close their hearts,
    they fill their mouths with proud roaring.
¹¹ Their steps even now encircle me;
    they watch closely, keeping low to the ground,
¹² Like lions eager for prey,
    like a young lion lurking in ambush.
¹³ Rise, O Lord, confront and cast them down;
    rescue my soul from the wicked.
¹⁴ Slay them with your sword;
    with your hand, Lord, slay them;
    snatch them from the world in their prime.
Their bellies are being filled with your friends;
    their children are satisfied too,
    for they share what is left with their young.
¹⁵ I am just—let me see your face;
    when I awake, let me be filled with your presence.^(E)

⁵     Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
    who makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.^(A)
6 He is like a barren bush in the wasteland
    that enjoys no change of season,
But stands in lava beds in the wilderness,
    a land, salty and uninhabited.
⁷ Blessed are those who trust in the Lord;
    the Lord will be their trust.^(B)
8 They are like a tree planted beside the waters
    that stretches out its roots to the stream:
It does not fear heat when it comes,
    its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,
    but still produces fruit.^(C)
9 More tortuous than anything is the human heart,
    beyond remedy; who can understand it?
¹⁰ I, the Lord, explore the mind
    and test the heart,
Giving to all according to their ways,
    according to the fruit of their deeds.^(D)
11 A partridge that broods but does not hatch
    are those who acquire wealth unjustly:
In midlife it will desert them;
    in the end they are only fools.^(E)

¹² A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning,
    such is our holy place.^(F)
13 O Hope of Israel, Lord!
    all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
The rebels shall be enrolled in the netherworld;
    they have forsaken the Lord, source of living waters.^(G)

¹⁴ Heal me, Lord, that I may be healed;
    save me, that I may be saved,
    for you are my praise.
¹⁵ See how they say to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it come to pass!”^(H)
16 Yet I did not press you to send disaster;
    the day without remedy I have not desired.
You know what passed my lips;
    it is present before you.
¹⁷ Do not become a terror to me,
    you are my refuge in the day of disaster.^(I)
18 Let my persecutors be confounded—not me!
    let them be terrified—not me!
Bring upon them the day of disaster,
    crush them with double destruction.^(J)