Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

68 ^(A)God shall arise, his enemies shall be ^(B)scattered;
    and those who hate him shall flee before him!
² As ^(C)smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
    ^(D)as wax melts before fire,
    so the wicked shall perish before God!
³ But ^(E)the righteous shall be glad;
    they shall exult before God;
    they shall be jubilant with joy!
⁴ Sing to God, ^(F)sing praises to his name;
    ^(G)lift up a song to him who ^(H)rides through ^(I)the deserts;
his name is ^(J)the Lord;
    exult before him!
^5 (K)Father of the fatherless and ^(L)protector of widows
    is God in his holy habitation.
⁶ God ^(M)settles the solitary in a home;
    he ^(N)leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
    but ^(O)the rebellious dwell in ^(P)a parched land.
⁷ O God, when you ^(Q)went out before your people,
    ^(R)when you marched through ^(S)the wilderness, Selah
^8 (T)the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
    before God, the One of Sinai,
    before God, the God of Israel.
^9 (U)Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
    you restored your inheritance as it languished;
¹⁰ your flock^[a] found a dwelling in it;
    in your goodness, O God, you ^(V)provided for the needy.

¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord,
    who daily ^(A)bears us up;
    God is our salvation. Selah
²⁰ Our God is a God of salvation,
    ^(B)and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

⁹ (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
    and they take a pledge against the poor.)
¹⁰ They go about naked, without clothing;
    hungry, they ^(A)carry the sheaves;
¹¹ among the olive rows of the wicked^[a] they make oil;
    they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
¹² From out of the city the dying groan,
    and the soul of ^(B)the wounded cries for help;
    yet God charges no one with ^(C)wrong.
¹³ “There are those who rebel ^(D)against the light,
    who are not acquainted with its ways,
    and do not stay in its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises before it is light,
    that he ^(E)may kill the poor and needy,
    and in the night he is like a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer also waits for ^(F)the twilight,
    saying, ‘No ^(G)eye will see me’;
    and he veils his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they ^(H)dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.
¹⁷ For ^(I)deep darkness is morning to all of them;
    for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
¹⁸ “You say, ^(J)‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion is cursed in the land;
    no treader turns towards their vineyards.
¹⁹ Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does ^(K)Sheol those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them;
    the worm finds them sweet;
they are ^(L)no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like ^(M)a tree.’
²¹ “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
    and do no good to the widow.
²² Yet God^[b] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they are supported,
    and his ^(N)eyes are upon their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted ^(O)a little while, and then ^(P)are gone;
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
    they are ^(Q)cut off like the ears of corn.
²⁵ If it is ^(R)not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”