Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³ Do not look to nobles,
    nor to mere human beings who cannot save.
⁴ When they stop breathing,
    they return to the ground;
        on that very day their plans evaporate!

⁵ Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ maker of heaven and earth,
    the seas and everything in them,
        forever the guardian of truth,
⁷ who brings justice for the oppressed,
    and who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord frees the prisoners;
⁸ the Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
    The Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord stands guard over the stranger;
    he supports both widows and orphans,
        but makes the path of the wicked slippery.^[a]

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, Zion, for all generations!

Hallelujah!

¹⁴ “I have certainly^[a] stayed silent for a long time;
    I’ve kept still and held myself back.
Now, like a woman giving birth, I’ll cry out.
    All of a sudden I’ll gasp and pant.
¹⁵ I’ll devastate the mountains and hills,
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I’ll turn rivers into islands,
    and dry up the ponds.
¹⁶ I’ll help the blind walk,
    even^[b] on a road they do not know;
I’ll guide them
    in directions^[c] they do not know.
I’ll turn the dark places^[d] into light in front of them,
    and the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
    and I won’t abandon them.
¹⁷ Those who trust in carved idols
    will turn back and^[e] be completely disappointed,^[f]
along with those^[g] who say to metal images,
    ‘You are our gods.’”