Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

^3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
^4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
^5 (3) For I know my crimes,
my sin confronts me all the time.

^6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil from your perspective;
so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.

^7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
^8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.

^9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
^10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
^11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.

^12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
^13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.
^14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,
and let a willing spirit uphold me.
^15 (13) Then I will teach the wicked your ways,
and sinners will return to you.

^16 (14) Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,
God, God of my salvation!
Then my tongue will sing
about your righteousness —
^17 (15) Adonai, open my lips;
then my mouth will praise you.

^18 (16) For you don’t want sacrifices, or I would give them;
you don’t take pleasure in burnt offerings.
^19 (17) My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit;
God, you won’t spurn a broken, chastened heart.
^20 (18) In your good pleasure, make Tziyon prosper;
rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim.
^21 (19) Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then they will offer bulls on your altar.

58 Shout out loud! Don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a shofar!
Proclaim to my people what rebels they are,
to the house of Ya‘akov their sins.

² “Oh yes, they seek me day after day
and [claim to] delight in knowing my ways.
As if they were an upright nation
that had not abandoned the rulings of their God,
they ask me for just rulings
and [claim] to take pleasure in closeness to God,
³ [asking,] ‘Why should we fast, if you don’t see?
Why mortify ourselves, if you don’t notice?’

“Here is my answer: when you fast,
you go about doing whatever you like,
while keeping your laborers hard at work.
⁴ Your fasts lead to quarreling and fighting,
to lashing out with violent blows.
On a day like today, fasting like yours
will not make your voice heard on high.

⁵ “Is this the sort of fast I want,
a day when a person mortifies himself?
Is the object to hang your head like a reed
and spread sackcloth and ashes under yourself?
Is this what you call a fast,
a day that pleases Adonai?

⁶ “Here is the sort of fast I want —
releasing those unjustly bound,
untying the thongs of the yoke,
letting the oppressed go free,
breaking every yoke,
⁷ sharing your food with the hungry,
taking the homeless poor into your house,
clothing the naked when you see them,
fulfilling your duty to your kinsmen!”

⁸ Then your light will burst forth like the morning,
your new skin will quickly grow over your wound;
your righteousness will precede you,
and Adonai’s glory will follow you.
⁹ Then you will call, and Adonai will answer;
you will cry, and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you will remove the yoke from among you,
stop false accusation and slander,
¹⁰ generously offer food to the hungry
and meet the needs of the person in trouble;
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your gloom become like noon.
¹¹ Adonai will always guide you;
he will satisfy your needs in the desert,
he will renew the strength in your limbs;
so that you will be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
¹² You will rebuild the ancient ruins,
raise foundations from ages past,
and be called “Repairer of broken walls,
Restorer of streets to live in.”