Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ My soul quietly waits for the True God alone
    because I hope only in Him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and deliverance,
    my citadel high on a hill;
    I will not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and my significance depend ultimately on God;
    the core of my strength, my shelter, is in the True God.

⁸ Have faith in Him in all circumstances, dear people.
    Open up your heart to Him;
    the True God shelters us in His arms.

[pause]

⁹ Human beings disappear like a breath;
    even people of rank live artificial lives.
Their weight is that of a breath in a balance—nothing.
    Added together, they’re still lighter than air.
¹⁰ Do not resort to oppression;
    resist the temptation of ill-gotten gain.
    If you achieve wealth, don’t let your heart get attached.

¹¹ The True God spoke this once,
    and twice I’ve heard:
That You, the True God, hold all power;
¹² Your love never fails, O Lord,
    for You pay every person back
    according to his deeds.

¹⁴     Cursed be the day I was born—
        cursed, not blessed is the day my mother gave birth to me.
¹⁵     Cursed be the man who told my overjoyed father,
        “You have a son.”
¹⁶     May he be as cursed as the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah,
        which the Eternal decimated without a care.
    Let him hear cries for help in the morning.
        Let him recoil at the shouts of war at noon,
¹⁷     For he did not kill me before I was born
        so my mother’s womb would become my grave—
        my mother’s womb forever enlarged.
¹⁸     Why was I ever born? To watch such tragedy?
        To feel such sorrow? To live my days in utter shame?