Old/New Testament
The Nation Cries for Jerusalem
A song of Asaph.
79 God, nations have come against your people.
They have ruined your holy Temple.
They have turned Jerusalem into ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
as food to the wild birds.
They have given the bodies of those who worship you
to the wild animals.
3 They have spilled blood like water
all around Jerusalem.
No one was left to bury the dead.
4 We are a bad joke to the other nations.
They laugh and make fun of us.
5 Lord, how long will this last? Will you be angry forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like a fire?
6 Be angry with the nations that do not know you.
Be angry with the kingdoms that do not honor you.
7 They have destroyed the people of Jacob.
Those nations have destroyed the people’s land.
8 Don’t punish us for the sins of our ancestors.
Show your mercy to us soon.
We are helpless!
9 God our Savior, help us
so people will praise you.
Save us and forgive our sins
so people will honor you.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Tell the other nations in our presence
that you punish those who kill your servants.
11 Hear the moans of the prisoners.
Use your great power
to save those sentenced to die.
12 Repay those around us seven times over
for their insults to you, Lord.
13 We are your people, the sheep of your flock.
We will thank you always.
Forever and ever we will praise you.
A Prayer to Bring Israel Back
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies of the Agreement.” A song of Asaph.
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen to us.
You lead the people of Joseph like a flock.
You sit on your throne between the gold creatures with wings.
Show your greatness 2 to the people of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Use your strength.
Come and save us.
3 God, take us back.
Show us your kindness so we can be saved.
4 Lord God of heaven’s armies,
how long will you be angry
at the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed your people tears.
You have made them drink many tears.
6 You made those around us fight over us.
Our enemies make fun of us.
7 God of heaven’s armies, take us back.
Show us your kindness so we can be saved.
8 You brought us out of Egypt as if we were a vine.
You forced out other nations and planted us in the land.
9 You cleared the land for us.
Like a vine, we took root and filled the land.
10 We covered the mountains with our shade.
We had limbs like the mighty cedar tree.
11 Our branches reached the Mediterranean Sea.
And our shoots went to the Euphrates River.
12 So why did you pull down our walls?
Now everyone who passes by steals from us.
13 Like wild pigs they walk over us.
Like wild animals they feed on us.
14 God of heaven’s armies, come back.
Look down from heaven and see.
Take care of us, your vine.
15 You planted this shoot with your own hands.
You raised and strengthened this child.
16 Now it is cut down and burned with fire.
You destroyed us by your angry looks.
17 Help the man you have chosen.
Make this human being strong for your service.
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Give us life again, and we will call to you for help.
19 Lord God of heaven’s armies, take us back.
Show us your kindness so we can be saved.
God Shows Mercy to All People
11 So I ask: Did God throw out his people? No! I myself am an Israelite. I am from the family of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God chose the Israelites to be his people before they were born. And God did not leave his people. Surely you know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he prayed to God against the people of Israel. Elijah said, 3 “They have killed your prophets, and they have destroyed your altars. I am the only prophet left. And now they are trying to kill me, too.”[a] 4 But what answer did God give Elijah? He said, “But I have left 7,000 people in Israel. Those 7,000 have never bowed down before Baal.”[b] 5 It is the same now. There are a few people that God has chosen by his grace. 6 And if God chose them by grace, then it is not for the things they have done. If they could be made God’s people by what they did, then God’s gift of grace would not really be a gift.
7 So this is what has happened: The people of Israel tried to be right with God. But they did not succeed. But the ones God chose did become right with him. The others became hard and refused to listen to God. 8 As it is written in the Scriptures:
“God gave the people a dull mind so they could not understand.” Isaiah 29:10
“God closed their eyes so they could not see,
and God closed their ears so they could not hear.
This continues until today.” Deuteronomy 29:4
9 And David says:
“Let their own feasts trap them and cause their ruin.
Let their feasts cause them to sin and be paid back.
10 Let their eyes be closed so they cannot see.
Let their backs be forever weak from troubles.” Psalm 69:22-23
11 So I ask: When the Jews fell, did that fall destroy them? No! But their failure brought salvation to the non-Jews. This took place to cause the Jews to be jealous. 12 The Jews’ failure brought rich blessings for the world. And what the Jews lost brought rich blessings for the non-Jewish people. So surely the world will get much richer blessings when enough Jews become the kind of people God wants.
13 Now I am speaking to you who are not Jews. I am an apostle to the non-Jews. So while I have that work, I will do the best I can. 14 I hope I can make my own people jealous. That way, maybe I can help some of them to be saved. 15 God turned away from the Jews. When that happened, God became friends with the other people in the world. So when God accepts the Jews, then surely that will bring to them life after death.
16 If the first piece of bread is offered to God, then the whole loaf is made holy. If the roots of a tree are holy, then the tree’s branches are holy too.
17 Some of the branches from an olive tree have been broken off, and the branch of a wild olive tree has been joined to that first tree. You non-Jews are the same as that wild branch, and you now share the strength and life of the first tree, the Jews. 18 So do not brag about those branches that were broken off. You have no reason to brag. Why? You do not give life to the root. The root gives life to you.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.