Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ O Eternal, our Lord,
    Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth;
Your magnificent glory shines far above the skies.
² From the mouths and souls of infants and toddlers, the most innocent,
    You have decreed power to stop Your adversaries
    and quash those who seek revenge.

³ When I gaze to the skies and meditate on Your creation—
    on the moon, stars, and all You have made,
⁴ I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals—
    sons and daughters of men—
    specks of dust floating about the cosmos.

⁵ But You placed the son of man just beneath God
    and honored him like royalty, crowning him with glory and honor.
⁶ You ordained him to govern the works of Your hands,
    to nurture the offspring of Your divine imagination;
    You placed everything on earth beneath his feet:
⁷ All kinds of domesticated animals,
    even the wild animals in the fields and forests,
⁸ The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
    all the multitudes of living things that travel the currents of the oceans.

⁹ O Eternal, our Lord,
    Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth.

¹²     In your short run of days, have you ever commanded the morning to begin
        or taught the sun to rise in its place?
¹³     Under your watch has the early light ever taken hold of the earth by the edges
        and shaken the wicked loose?
¹⁴     Under dawn’s early light the earth takes shape
        as does clay when a seal is firmly pressed in it;
    Its colors and features stand out
        as a well-made garment does from the body.
¹⁵     Yet the light is withheld from the wicked,
        and the arm is snapped off of the oppressors.

¹⁶     Have you entered into the sea’s tidewaters
        or trod the bottom of the ocean looking for the deepest cavern?
¹⁷     Have you found it, only for death’s infamous gates to be unveiled to you,
        or did you catch a glimpse of the gates of the deep darkness beneath the waters?
¹⁸     Have you roamed the earth in her entirety, comprehended her vast regions?
        If you know all of this, declare it! Make your statement!

¹⁹     Tell me, which way is it to where the light resides?
        And darkness? Where does the darkness live?
²⁰     When you escort it through its regions every day,
        will you know the way to its home?
²¹     Ah, but of course you know!
        After all, you were born way back then when all this was created,
        and your days have been many indeed.