Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ “O Lord, ^(G)make me know my end
    and what is the measure of my days;
    let me know how fleeting I am!
⁵ Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and ^(H)my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely ^(I)all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
⁶     Surely a man ^(J)goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing^[a] they are in turmoil;
    man ^(K)heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

⁷ “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
    ^(L)My hope is in you.
⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    ^(M)Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
^9 (N)I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
    ^(O)for it is you who have done it.
^10 (P)Remove your stroke from me;
    I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
¹¹ When you discipline a man
    with ^(Q)rebukes for sin,
you ^(R)consume like a ^(S)moth what is dear to him;
    ^(T)surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

^12 (U)“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
    and give ear to my cry;
    hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am ^(V)a sojourner with you,
    ^(W)a guest, like all my fathers.
^13 (X)Look away from me, that I may smile again,
    ^(Y)before I depart and ^(Z)am no more!”

^12 (A)“But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in ^(B)the land of the living.
^14 (C)The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It ^(D)cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in ^(E)the gold of ^(F)Ophir,
    in precious ^(G)onyx or ^(H)sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of ^(I)coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above ^(J)(K)pearls.
^19 (L)The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ “From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of ^(M)all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
^22 (N)Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

^23 (O)“God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.
²⁴ For he ^(P)looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he ^(Q)gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
    and ^(R)a way for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to man,
‘Behold, ^(S)the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to ^(T)turn away from evil is understanding.’”

² “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
³ when his ^(V)lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴ as I was in my prime,^[a]
    when the ^(W)friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my ^(X)children were all around me,
⁶ when my steps were ^(Y)washed with ^(Z)butter,
    and ^(AA)the rock poured out for me streams of ^(AB)oil!
⁷ When I went out to ^(AC)the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
⁹ the princes refrained from talking
    and ^(AD)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their ^(AE)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.