Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ In his holy dwelling, God is a father for the fatherless
and a judge who defends widows.
⁶ God causes the lonely to dwell together as a household.
He leads out the prisoners with music,
but the rebellious dwell in a scorched land.

⁹ The wicked tear away a fatherless child from its mother’s breast.
They take a poor mother’s nursing baby as collateral.

¹⁰ The poor walk around naked, without clothing.
They pick up sheaves but are still hungry.
¹¹ They press olive oil among the terraces of olive trees.
They tread winepresses, but they remain thirsty.
¹² The dying people^[a] of the city groan,
and wounded souls cry out for help,
but God does not bring charges against anyone.

¹³ There are people who rebel against the light.
They do not acknowledge its ways or dwell in its paths.
¹⁴ At the end of the daylight^[b] a murderer arises,
and he kills the poor and needy.
At night he acts as a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of an adulterer keeps watch for twilight.
He says, “No eye can get a good look at me.”
He wears a mask over his face.
¹⁶ In the dark of night he digs into houses.
By day such people hide inside.
They keep away from the light.
¹⁷ For all of them, morning is their darkness.^[c]
They are familiar with the sudden terror of darkness.
¹⁸ They float by like foam on the surface of the water.
Their portion of the land is cursed,
so no one turns onto the road to their vineyards.
¹⁹ As drought and heat snatch away the water from the snow,
the grave snatches away a sinner.
²⁰ The womb forgets him.
A worm finds him sweet.
He will no longer be remembered.
Wickedness is broken like a tree.

²¹ He feeds on^[d] the childless woman,
and he does nothing good for the widow.

²² But God drags away the mighty by his strength.
He rises up, so the wicked have no confidence in their lives.
²³ God lets them be secure, and they prop themselves up,
but God’s eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are high and mighty for a little while,
but then they are gone.
They are brought low like all the rest.
They are gathered together, like ears of grain that have been cut off.

²⁵ So then, who can make me out to be a liar?
Who can reduce my words to nothing?