Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 22[a]
The Prayer of an Innocent Person
1 For the leader; according to “The deer of the dawn.”[b] A psalm of David.
I
2 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why so far from my call for help,
from my cries of anguish?(A)
3 My God, I call by day, but you do not answer;
by night, but I have no relief.(B)
4 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the glory of Israel.(C)
5 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted and you rescued them.
6 To you they cried out and they escaped;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.(D)
7 [c]But I am a worm, not a man,
scorned by men, despised by the people.(E)
8 All who see me mock me;
they curl their lips and jeer;
they shake their heads at me:(F)
9 “He relied on the Lord—let him deliver him;
if he loves him, let him rescue him.”(G)
10 For you drew me forth from the womb,
made me safe at my mother’s breasts.
11 Upon you I was thrust from the womb;
since my mother bore me you are my God.(H)
12 Do not stay far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.(I)
II
Chapter 17
1 My spirit is broken, my days finished,
my burial at hand.
2 Surely mockers surround me,
at their provocation, my eyes grow dim.
3 Put up a pledge for me with you:[a]
who is there to give surety for me?
4 You darken their minds to knowledge;
therefore you will not exalt them.
5 For a share of property he informs on friends,
while the eyes of his children grow dim.
6 I am made a byword of the people;(A)
I am one at whom people spit.
7 My eyes are blind with anguish,
and my whole frame is like a shadow.
8 The upright are astonished at this,
the innocent aroused against the wicked.
9 The righteous holds to his way,
the one with clean hands increases in strength.
10 But turn now, and come on again;
I do not find a wise man among you!
11 My days pass by, my plans are at an end,
the yearning of my heart.
12 They would change the night into day;
where there is darkness they talk of approaching light.
13 [b]If my only hope is dwelling in Sheol,
and spreading my couch in darkness,
14 If I am to say to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm “my mother,” “my sister,”
15 Where then is my hope,
my happiness, who can see it?
16 Will they descend with me into Sheol?
Shall we go down together into the dust?
Israel’s Infidelity a Warning. 7 [a]Therefore, as the holy Spirit says:
“Oh, that today you would hear his voice,(A)
8 ‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
in the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me
and saw my works(B) 10 for forty years.
Because of this I was provoked with that generation
and I said, “They have always been of erring heart,
and they do not know my ways.”
11 As I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter into my rest.”’”
12 Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. 13 Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. 14 We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end,(C) 15 for it is said:
“Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.’”(D)
16 (E)Who were those who rebelled when they heard? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt under Moses? 17 With whom was he “provoked for forty years”? Was it not those who had sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert?(F) 18 And to whom did he “swear that they should not enter into his rest,” if not to those who were disobedient?(G) 19 And we see that they could not enter for lack of faith.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.