Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ “Lord, make me to know my end,
    and what is the measure of my days,
    that I may know how transient I am.
⁵ Indeed, You have made my days as a handbreadth,
    and my age is as nothing before You;
    indeed every man at his best is as a breath.” Selah
⁶ Surely every man walks in a mere shadow;
    surely he goes as a breath;
    he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.

⁷ Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
    My hope is in You.
⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions;
    do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
⁹ I was speechless, I did not open my mouth,
    because You did it.
¹⁰ Remove Your blow from me;
    I am consumed by the hostility of Your hand.
¹¹ When with rebukes You correct a man for iniquity,
    You consume like a moth what is dear to him;
    surely every man is vapor. Selah

¹² Hear my prayer, O Lord,
    and give ear to my cry;
    do not be silent at my tears,
for I am a stranger with You,
    and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
¹³ Turn Your gaze of displeasure from me, that I may smile,
    before I go away and am no more.

¹² “But where will wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man does not know its price,
    nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The depth says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It cannot be bought for gold,
    nor can silver be weighed for its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    with the precious onyx or the sapphire.
¹⁷ The gold and the crystal cannot equal it,
    and it cannot be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention will be made of coral or of pearls,
    for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it,
    nor will it be valued with pure gold.

²⁰ “From where then does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Destruction and Death say,
    ‘We have heard of its fame with our ears.’
²³ God understands its way,
    and He knows its place.
²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth,
    and sees under the whole heaven,
²⁵ to make the weight of the wind,
    and He weighs the waters by measure.
²⁶ When He made a decree for the rain,
    and a path for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷ then He saw it and declared it;
    He prepared it, yes, and searched it out.
²⁸ To man He said:
    ‘Look, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
    And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

² “Oh, that I were as in months past,
    as in the days when God watched over me;
³ when His lamp shone upon my head,
    and when by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴ as I was in the days of my autumn youth,
    when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
⁵ when the Almighty was still with me,
    when my children were around me;
⁶ when my steps were bathed in butter,
    and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷ “When I went out to the gate of the city,
    when I took my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and hid themselves,
    and the aged arose and stood up.
⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
    and put their hand on their mouth.
¹⁰ The nobles held their peace,
    and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.