Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

7 ⁽⁰⁾ A shiggayon of David, which he sang to Adonai because of Kush the Ben-Y’mini:

^2 (1) Adonai my God, in you I take refuge.
Save me from all my pursuers, and rescue me;
^3 (2) otherwise, they will maul me like a lion
and tear me apart, with no rescuer present.

^4 (3) Adonai my God, if I have caused this,
if there is guilt on my hands,
^5 (4) if I paid back evil to him who was at peace with me,
when I even spared those who opposed me without cause;
^6 (5) then let the enemy pursue me
until he overtakes me
and tramples my life down into the earth;
yes, let him lay my honor in the dust. (Selah)

^7 (6) Rise up, Adonai, in your anger!
Arouse yourself against the fury of my foes.
Wake up for me; you commanded justice.
^8 (7) May the assembly of the peoples surround you;
may you return to rule over them from on high.
^9 (8) Adonai, who dispenses judgment to the peoples,
judge me, Adonai, according to my righteousness
and as my integrity deserves.
^10 (9) Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and establish the righteous;
since you, righteous God,
test hearts and minds.
^11 (10) My shield is God,
who saves the upright in heart.

^12 (11) God is a righteous judge,
a God whose anger is present every day.
^13 (12) If a person will not repent,
he sharpens his sword.
He has bent his bow, made it ready;
^14 (13) he has also prepared for him
weapons of death, his arrows,
which he has made into burning shafts.

^15 (14) Look how the wicked is pregnant with evil;
he conceives trouble, gives birth to lies.
^16 (15) He makes a pit, digs it deep,
and falls into the hole he made.
^17 (16) His mischief will return onto his own head,
his violence will recoil onto his own skull.

^18 (17) I thank Adonai for his righteousness
and sing praise to the name of Adonai ‘Elyon.

⁶ “I made your teeth clean of food in all your cities,
left you nothing to eat in all your villages;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

⁷ “I withheld the rain from you
three months before the harvest.
I made it rain on one city
and not on another —
one field had rain,
while another with no rain dried up;
⁸ from two or three cities they would stagger to one city
for water to drink, but there wasn’t enough;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

⁹ “I struck your crops with hot winds and blight,
your many gardens and vineyards;
the cutter-worms devoured
your fig and olive trees;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

¹⁰ “I sent a plague on you like that of Egypt,
put your young men to death with the sword;
let your horses be captured;
and filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
¹¹ “I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew S’dom and ‘Amora;
you were like a burning stick snatched from the fire;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

¹² “This is why I will deal with you in this way, Isra’el;
and because I will deal with you in this way,
prepare to meet your God, Isra’el —
¹³ him who forms mountains and creates wind,
who declares to humankind his thoughts,
who turns the morning to darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth —
Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot is his name.”