Friday of the 14th week of Ordinary Time

2Israel, convert to the Lord your God. For you have been ruined by your own iniquity. 3Take these words with you and return to the Lord. And say to him, “Remove all iniquity and accept the good. And we will repay the calves of our lips. 4Assur will not save us; we will not ride on horses. Neither will we say any more, ‘The works of our hands are our gods,’ for those that are in you will have mercy on the orphan.” 5I will heal their contrition; I will love them spontaneously. For my wrath has been turned away from them. 6I will be like the dew; Israel will spring forth like the lily, and his root will spread out like that of the cedars of Lebanon. 7His branches will advance, and his glory will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance will be like that of the cedars of Lebanon. 8They will be converted, sitting in his shadow. They will live on wheat, and they will grow like a vine. His memorial will be like the wine of the cedars of Lebanon. 9Ephraim will say, “What are idols to me anymore?” I will listen to him, and I will set him straight like a healthy spruce tree. Your fruit has been found by me. 10Who is wise and will understand this? Who has understanding and will know these things? For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the just will walk in them, but truly, the traitors will fall in them.

3Be merciful to me, O God, according to your great mercy. And, according to the plentitude of your compassion, wipe out my iniquity.

4Wash me once again from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

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8For behold, you have loved truth. The obscure and hidden things of your wisdom, you have manifested to me.

9You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed. You will wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow.

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12Create a clean heart in me, O God. And renew an upright spirit within my inmost being.

13Do not cast me away from your face; and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

14Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and confirm me with an unsurpassed spirit.

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17O Lord, you will open my lips, and my mouth will announce your praise.

16Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be as prudent as serpents and as simple as doves. 17But beware of men. For they will hand you over to councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. 18And you shall be led before both rulers and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they hand you over, do not choose to think about how or what to speak. For what to speak shall be given to you in that hour. 20For it is not you who will be speaking, but the Spirit of your Father, who will speak in you. 21And brother will hand over brother to death, and father will hand over son. And children will rise up against parents and bring about their deaths. 22And you will be hated by all for the sake of my name. But whoever will have persevered, even to the end, the same shall be saved. 23Now when they persecute you in one city, flee into another. Amen I say to you, you will not have exhausted all the cities of Israel, before the Son of man returns.