Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

28 Lord, you are my Rock.
    I am calling to you for help.
    Don’t close your ears to my prayers.
If you don’t answer me,
    I will be counted among the dead.
² I lift my hands and pray toward your Most Holy Place.
    Hear me when I call to you.
    Show mercy to me.
³ Don’t treat me like the evil people
    who do wicked things.
They greet their neighbors like friends,
    but secretly plan to hurt them.
⁴ They do bad things to others,
    so make bad things happen to them.
    Give them the punishment they deserve.
⁵ They don’t notice what the Lord does.
    They ignore all the good things he has made.
So instead of building them up,
    he will destroy them.

⁹ All fairness and goodness is gone.
There is only darkness around us,
    so we must wait for the light.
We hope for a bright light,
    but all we have is darkness.
¹⁰ We are like people without eyes.
    We walk into walls like blind people.
We stumble and fall as if it was night.
    Even in the daylight, we cannot see.
    At noontime, we fall like dead men.
¹¹ We are always complaining;
    we growl like bears and moan like doves.
We are waiting for justice,
    but there is none.
We are waiting to be saved,
    but salvation is still far away.
¹² That’s because we committed crimes against our God.
    Our own sins speak out against us.
We know we are guilty.
    We know we have sinned.
¹³ We rebelled against the Lord
    and lied to him.
We turned away from our God
    and left him.
We planned to hurt others
    and to rebel against God.
From hearts filled with lies,
    we talked about it and made our plans.
¹⁴ We pushed Justice away.
    Fairness stands off in the distance.
Truth has fallen in the streets.
    Goodness is not allowed in the city.
¹⁵ Loyalty is gone,
    and people who try to do good are robbed.