Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ Look on me with a heart of mercy, O God,
    according to Your generous love.
According to Your great compassion,
    wipe out every consequence of my shameful crimes.
² Thoroughly wash me, inside and out, of all my crooked deeds.
    Cleanse me from my sins.

³ For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong,
    and my guilt is there, staring me in the face.
⁴ It was against You, only You, that I sinned,
    for I have done what You say is wrong, right before Your eyes.
So when You speak, You are in the right.
    When You judge, Your judgments are pure and true.^[a]
5 For I was guilty from the day I was born,
    a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.

⁶ But still, You long to enthrone truth throughout my being;
    in unseen places deep within me, You show me wisdom.
⁷ Cleanse me of my wickedness with hyssop, and I will be clean.
    If You wash me, I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Help me hear joy and happiness as my accompaniment,
    so my bones, which You have broken, will dance in delight instead.
⁹ Cover Your face so You will not see my sins,
    and erase my guilt from the record.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God;
    restore within me a sense of being brand new.
¹¹ Do not throw me far away from Your presence,
    and do not remove Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by You;
    let Your willing Spirit sustain me.

¹³ If You do, I promise to teach rebels Your ways
    and help sinners find their way back to You.
¹⁴ Free me from the guilt of murder, of shedding a man’s blood,
    O God who saves me.
    Now my tongue, which was used to destroy, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just You are.

¹⁵ O Lord, pry open my lips
    that this mouth will sing joyfully of Your greatness.
¹⁶ I would surrender my dearest possessions or destroy all that I prize to prove my regret,
    but You don’t take pleasure in sacrifices or burnt offerings.
¹⁷ What sacrifice I can offer You is my broken spirit
    because a broken spirit, O God,
    a heart that honestly regrets the past,
You won’t detest.

¹⁸ Be good to Zion; grant her Your favor.
    Make Jerusalem’s walls steady and strong.
¹⁹ Then there will be sacrifices made,
    burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings,
With right motives that will delight You.
    And costly young bulls will be offered up to Your altar, only the best.

58 Eternal One: Tell My people about their wrongdoing;
        shout with a voice like a trumpet;
    Hold nothing back: say this people of Jacob’s line and heritage
        have failed to do what is right.

²     And yet they look for Me every day.
        They pretend to want to learn what I teach,
    As if they are indeed a nation good and true,
        as if they hadn’t really turned their backs on My directives.
    They even ask Me, as though they care,
        about what I want them to be and do, as if they really want Me in their lives.

³ People: Why didn’t You notice how diligently we fasted before You?
        We humbled ourselves with pious practices and You paid no attention.

Eternal One: I have to tell you, on those fasting days,
        all you were really seeking was your own pleasure;
    Besides you were busy defrauding people and abusing your workers.
⁴     Your kind of fasting is pointless, for it only leads to bitter quarrels,
        contentious backbiting, and vicious fighting.
    You are not fasting today because you want Me to hear your voice.
⁵     What kind of a fast do I choose? Is a true fast simply
        some religious exercise for making a person feel miserable and woeful?
    Is it about how you bow your head (like a bent reed), how you dress (in sackcloth), and where you sit (in a bed of ashes)?
        Is this what you call a fast, a day the Eternal One finds good and proper?
⁶     No, what I want in a fast is this:
        to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice,
        to lighten the load of those heavily burdened,
        to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression.
⁷     A fast for Me involves sharing your food with people who have none,
        giving those who are homeless a space in your home,
    Giving clothes to those who need them, and not neglecting your own family.

⁸ Then, oh then, your light will break out like the warm, golden rays of a rising sun;
    in an instant, you will be healed.
Your rightness will precede and protect you;
    the glory of the Eternal will follow and defend you.
⁹ Then when you do call out, “My God, Where are You?”
    The Eternal One will answer, “I am here, I am here.”
If you remove the yoke of oppression from the downtrodden among you,
    stop accusing others, and do away with mean and inflammatory speech,
¹⁰ If you make sure that the hungry and oppressed have all that they need,
    then your light will shine in the darkness,
And even your bleakest moments will be bright as a clear day.
¹¹ The Eternal One will never leave you;
    He will lead you in the way that you should go.
When you feel dried up and worthless,
    God will nourish you and give you strength.
And you will grow like a garden lovingly tended;
    you will be like a spring whose water never runs out.
¹² You will discover there are people among your own
    who can rebuild this broken-down city out of the ancient ruins;
You will firm up its ancient foundations.
    And all around, others will call you
“Repairer of Broken Down Walls” and “Rebuilder of Livable Streets.”