Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

^2 (1) Listen, God, to my prayer!
Don’t hide yourself from my plea!
^3 (2) Pay attention to me, and answer me!

I am panic-stricken as I make my complaint,
I shudder ^4 (3) at how the enemy shouts,
at how the wicked oppress;
for they keep heaping trouble on me
and angrily tormenting me.
^5 (4) My heart within me is pounding in anguish,
the terrors of death press down on me,
^6 (5) fear and trembling overwhelm me,
horror covers me.

^7 (6) I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
Then I could fly away and be at rest.
^8 (7) Yes, I would flee to a place far off,
I would stay in the desert. (Selah)
^9 (8) I would quickly find me a shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”

^10 (9) Confuse, Adonai, confound their speech!
For I see violence and fighting in the city.
^11 (10) Day and night they go about its walls;
within are malice and mischief.
^12 (11) Ruin is rife within it,
oppression and fraud never leave its streets.

^13 (12) For it was not an enemy who insulted me;
if it had been, I could have borne it.
It was not my adversary who treated me with scorn;
if it had been, I could have hidden myself.
^14 (13) But it was you, a man of my own kind,
my companion, whom I knew well.

^15 (14) We used to share our hearts with each other;
in the house of God we walked with the crowd.

11 Next Tzofar the Na‘amati spoke up:

² “Shouldn’t this torrent of words be answered?
Does talking a lot make a person right?
³ Is your babble supposed to put others to silence?
When you mock, is no one to make you ashamed?

⁴ “You claim that your teaching is pure;
you tell [God], ‘I am clean in your sight.’
⁵ I wish that God would speak,
would open his mouth to answer you,
⁶ would tell you the secrets of wisdom,
which is worth twice as much as common sense.
Understand that God is demanding of you
less than your guilt deserves.

⁷ “Can you penetrate God’s depths?
Can you find out Shaddai’s limits?
⁸ They’re as high as heaven; what can you do?
They’re deeper than Sh’ol; what can you know?
⁹ Their extent is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
¹⁰ If he passes through, puts in prison
and assembles [for judgment], who can prevent him?
¹¹ For he knows when people are worthless;
so if he sees iniquity, won’t he look into it?

¹² “An empty man can gain understanding,
even if he was born like a wild donkey.
¹³ If you will set your heart right,
if you will spread out your hands toward him,
¹⁴ if you will put your iniquity at a distance
and not let unrighteousness remain in your tents,
¹⁵ then when you lift up your face, there will be no defect;
you will be firm and free from fear.

¹⁶ “For you will forget your misery;
you’ll remember it like a flood that passed through long ago;
¹⁷ your life will be brighter than noon;
even its darkness will be like morning.
¹⁸ You will be confident, because there is hope;
you will look around you and lie down secure;
¹⁹ you will rest, and no one will make you afraid.
Many will seek your favor;
²⁰ but the eyes of the wicked will fail [to find comfort].
They will find no way to escape,
and their hope will turn to complete disappointment.”