Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² I said, “I will be careful of my behavior
    so as not to sin with my tongue.
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth^[c]
    whenever the wicked are in my presence.”
³ I kept completely silent
    and refrained from speech,
    but my distress only increased.
⁴ My heart^[d] smoldered within me,
    and, as I pondered, my mind was inflamed,
    and my tongue began to speak:
^5 [e]“O Lord, let me know my end
    and the number of days left to me;
    show me how fleeting my life is.
⁶ You have allotted me a short span of days;
    my life is as nothing in your sight;
    human existence is a mere breath. Selah
⁷ Humans are nothing but a passing shadow;
    the riches they amass are a mere breath,
    and they do not know who will enjoy them.^[f]
8 “So now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
    My hope is in you.
⁹ Deliver me from all my sins;
    do not subject me to the taunts of fools.^[g]
10 “I was silent and did not open my mouth,
    for it is you who have done it.
¹¹ Remove your scourge from me;
    I am crushed by the blows of your hand.
¹² You rebuke and punish people for their sins;
    like a moth you consume all their desires;
    human existence is a mere puff of wind. Selah
^13 [h]“Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    do not be deaf to my cry
    or ignore my weeping.
For I am a wayfarer^[i] before you,
    a nomad like all my ancestors.
¹⁴ Turn your eyes away so that I may be glad
    before I depart and am no more.”^[j]

¹² But where can wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?

¹³ “No one knows the way to it,
    nor is it to be found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The abyss declares, ‘It is not in me.’
    The sea says, ‘I do not have it.’
¹⁵ It cannot be purchased with gold,
    nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
¹⁶ “It cannot be acquired with the gold of Ophir,
    nor with precious onyx or sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold or crystal^[b] cannot be compared to it,
    nor can it be exchanged for vessels of gold.
¹⁸ Neither coral nor alabaster deserve to be mentioned;
    the price of wisdom is beyond pearls.
¹⁹ Topaz from Ethiopia is worthless in comparison to it,
    nor can it be valued in terms of pure gold.
²⁰ “Where then is the source of wisdom?
    Where is intelligence to be found?

²¹ “It cannot be seen by the eye of any living creature;
    it is even concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Abaddon and the netherworld^[d] admit,
    ‘We have only heard rumors of it.’
²³ “God alone understands the path to wisdom;
    he alone knows where it can be found.
²⁴ For he can observe the farthest ends of the earth,
    and he sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ “When God regulated the force of the wind
    and measured out the waters,
²⁶ when he imposed a limit for the rain
    and cleared a path for the thunderbolt,
²⁷ then he saw wisdom and evaluated it,
    established it and assessed it completely.
²⁸ And then he declared to man:
    ‘The fear of the Lord is wisdom,
    and to turn from evil is understanding.’ ”

² “Oh, how I yearn for the months long gone
    and for those days when God kept watch over me,
³ when his lamp continued to shine above my head
    and by his light I could walk through darkness.
⁴ “In those days I was in my prime,
    and God protected my tent.
⁵ The Almighty was ever present at my side,
    and my children were around me.
⁶ My feet were bathed in milk,
    and the rocks poured forth streams of oil^[f] for me.
⁷ “When I would go forth to the gate of the city^[g]
    and take my seat in the public square,
⁸ the young men would see me and withdraw,
    and the old men would rise to their feet.
⁹ The nobles would refrain from speaking
    and would place their hands over their mouths.
¹⁰ The voices of the princes were silenced,
    and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.