Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

39 Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.

² With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.

³ And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.

⁴ And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.

⁵ Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.

⁶ Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number.

⁷ Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require:

⁸ Then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me

⁹ That I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.

¹⁰ I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.

¹¹ I have not hid thy justice within my heart: I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.

¹² Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.

¹³ For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.

¹⁴ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, look down, O Lord, to help me.

¹⁵ Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me.

¹⁶ Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me: 'T is well, 't is well.

¹⁷ Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.

¹⁸ But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me. Thou art my helper and my protector: O my God, be not slack.

¹² But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?

¹³ Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.

¹⁴ The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.

¹⁵ The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.

¹⁶ It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.

¹⁷ Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.

¹⁸ High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.

¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.

²⁰ Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

²¹ It is hid from the eyes of all living. and the fowls of the air know it not.

²² Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

²³ God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof.

²⁴ For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven.

²⁵ Who made a weight for the winds and weighed the waters by measure.

²⁶ When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

²⁷ Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.

²⁸ And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.

29 Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:

² Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?

³ When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?

⁴ As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?

⁵ When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?

⁶ When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?

⁷ When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?

⁸ The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.

⁹ The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.

¹⁰ The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.

8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour.

² And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets.

³ And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God.

⁴ And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.

⁵ And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake.