Penitential psalm

¹ Yahweh’s arm is not too short to save nor his ear too dull to hear.

² It is your sins, rather,

that separate you from God.

It is your iniquities that veil his face,

so that he does not hear you.

³ For your hands are blood-stained,

your fingers blotted with crimes;

your lips have spoken lies,

your tongues have uttered deceit.

⁴ No one fights for a right cause;

no one makes a truthful plea.

They all tell lies and rely on vanity;

they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

⁵ They hatch vipers’ eggs

and weave spiders’ webs.

Whoever eats their eggs dies;

and from an egg that is crushed

a venomous snake is hatched.

⁶ Their thread gives useless cloth;

their works are of help to no one.

Their plans are evil plots

executed in deeds of violence.

⁷ Their feet rush to do evil;

they are quick to shed innocent blood.

Their minds are full of wicked thoughts,

leaving in their wake ruin and havoc.

⁸ They do not know the way of peace;

from them no one can expect justice.

They have made their roads tricky and crooked

so that he who follows them is lost or waylaid.

⁹ So, far away from us lies justice,

and beyond reach is righteousness.

We look for light but behold darkness;

we long for brightness but walk in gloom.

¹⁰ Like the blind we grope for the wall,

like those without eyes we feel our way.

We stumble at noon as at twilight;

we are dead in the midst of our sins.

¹¹ We are like bears that growl;

we are like doves that moan.

We look for justice and find none;

we wait for salvation that never comes.

¹² For our offenses before you are many,

and our sins bear witness against us.

We acknowledge our offenses;

we know all our iniquities.

¹³ Yes, we have betrayed and deceived Yahweh,

turning away from following our God.

We have planned violence and rebellion;

we have thought and murmured lies.

¹⁴ Justice has been withheld,

righteousness stands aloof,

for truth has fallen in the public square

and integrity is not allowed to enter.

¹⁵ There is no sincerity nor honesty.

The one who turns from evil is de spoiled.

Yahweh has seen this and is ag grieved

that justice does not exist.

¹⁶ Appalled at seeing none would inter vene,

his own arm brought about the victory,

his justice giving him its support.

¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and salvation as a helmet upon his head.

He wrapped himself in garments of vengeance

and put on a mantle of fury.

¹⁸ To each he will pay his due –

wrath to his enemy, reprisal to his foe.

¹⁹ Those in the west will hear the name of Yahweh;

those in the east will see his glory.

For it will come like a pent-up stream

driven by the breath of Yahweh.

²⁰ But to Zion he will come as re deemer,

and to those of Jacob who turn from sin.

This is Yahweh speaking.

²¹ For my part, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh. My spirit which I have poured out on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will never leave you, nor your children, nor your children’s children forever and ever.