Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

16 ⁽⁰⁾ Mikhtam. By David:

⁽¹⁾ Protect me, God,
for you are my refuge.
² I said to Adonai, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good outside of you.”
³ The holy people in the land are the ones
who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.

⁴ Those who run after another god
multiply their sorrows;
To such gods I will not offer
drink offerings of blood
or take their names on my lips.

⁵ Adonai, my assigned portion, my cup:
you safeguard my share.
⁶ Pleasant places were measured out for me;
I am content with my heritage.

⁷ I bless Adonai, my counselor;
at night my inmost being instructs me.
⁸ I always set Adonai before me;
with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
⁹ so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,
and my body too rests in safety;
¹⁰ for you will not abandon me to Sh’ol,
you will not let your faithful one see the Abyss.
¹¹ You make me know the path of life;
in your presence is unbounded joy,
in your right hand eternal delight.

⁸ The voice of the man I love! Here he comes,
bounding over the mountains, skipping over the hills!
⁹ My darling is like a gazelle or young stag.
There he is, standing outside our wall,
looking in through the windows,
peering in through the lattice.
¹⁰ My darling speaks; he is saying to me,
“Get up, my love! My beauty! Come away!
¹¹ For you see that the winter has passed,
the rain is finished and gone,
¹² the flowers are appearing in the countryside,
the time has come for [the birds] to sing,
and the cooing of doves can be heard in the land.
¹³ The fig trees are forming their unripe figs,
and the grapevines in bloom give out their perfume.
Get up, my love, my beauty!
Come away!”