Readings

¹I will sing of mercy and justice; *to you, O Lord, will I sing praises.

²I will strive to follow a blameless course; oh, when will you come to me? *I will walk with sincerity of heart within my house.

³I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; *I hate the doers of evil deeds; they shall not remain with me.

⁴A crooked heart shall be far from me; *I will not know evil.

⁵Those who in secret slander their neighbors I will destroy; *those who have a haughty look and a proud heart I cannot abide.

⁶My eyes are upon the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me, *and only those who lead a blameless life shall be my servants.

⁷Those who act deceitfully shall not dwell in my house, *and those who tell lies shall not continue in my sight.

⁸I will soon destroy all the wicked in the land, *that I may root out all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

¹Hold not your tongue, O God of my praise; *for the mouth of the wicked, the mouth of the deceitful, is opened against me.

²They speak to me with a lying tongue; *they encompass me with hateful words and fight against me without a cause.

³Despite my love, they accuse me; *but as for me, I pray for them.

⁴They repay evil for good, *and hatred for my love.

⁵Set a wicked man against him, *and let an accuser stand at his right hand.

⁶When he is judged, let him be found guilty, *and let his appeal be in vain.

⁷Let his days be few, *and let another take his office.

⁸Let his children be fatherless, *and his wife become a widow.

⁹Let his children be waifs and beggars; *let them be driven from the ruins of their homes.

¹⁰Let the creditor seize everything he has; *let strangers plunder his gains.

¹¹Let there be no one to show him kindness, *and none to pity his fatherless children.

¹²Let his descendants be destroyed, *and his name be blotted out in the next generation.

¹³Let the wickedness of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, *and his mother’s sin not be blotted out;

¹⁴Let their sin be always before the Lord; *but let him root out their names from the earth;

¹⁵Because he did not remember to show mercy, *but persecuted the poor and needy and sought to kill the brokenhearted.

¹⁶He loved cursing, let it come upon him; *he took no delight in blessing, let it depart from him.

¹⁷He put on cursing like a garment, *let it soak into his body like water and into his bones like oil;

¹⁸Let it be to him like the cloak which he wraps around himself, *and like the belt that he wears continually.

¹⁹Let this be the recompense from the Lord to my accusers, *and to those who speak evil against me.

²⁰But you, O Lord my God, oh, deal with me according to your Name; *for your tender mercy’s sake, deliver me.

²¹For I am poor and needy, *and my heart is wounded within me.

²²I have faded away like a shadow when it lengthens; *I am shaken off like a locust.

²³My knees are weak through fasting, *and my flesh is wasted and gaunt.

²⁴I have become a reproach to them; *they see and shake their heads.

²⁵Help me, O Lord my God; *save me for your mercy’s sake.

²⁶Let them know that this is your hand, *that you, O Lord, have done it.

²⁷They may curse, but you will bless; *let those who rise up against me be put to shame, and your servant will rejoice.

²⁸Let my accusers be clothed with disgrace *and wrap themselves in their shame as in a cloak.

²⁹I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth; *in the midst of the multitude will I praise him;

³⁰Because he stands at the right hand of the needy, *to save his life from those who would condemn him.