Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹ How good it is to give thanks to the Eternal
    and to praise Your name with song, O Most High;
² To speak of Your unfailing love in the morning
    and rehearse Your faithfulness as night begins to fall.
³ How good it is to praise to the sound of strings—lute and harp—
    the stirring melodies of the lyre.
⁴ Because You, O Eternal One, thrill me with the things You have done,
    I will sing with joy in light of Your deeds.

¹² Those who are devoted to God will flourish like budding date-palm trees;
    they will grow strong and tall like cedars in Lebanon.
¹³ Those planted in the house of the Eternal
    will thrive in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They will bear fruit into old age;
    even in winter, they will be green and full of sap
¹⁵ To display that the Eternal is righteous.
    He is my rock, and there is no shadow of evil in Him.

⁸ So, go on—write all this down on a tablet in their presence;
    inscribe it on a scroll as a permanent record
So people will know about it forever.
⁹ After all, these people are rebellious and distrustful.
    They won’t accept, don’t even pay attention
To what the Eternal has tried to tell them.
¹⁰ They say to those gifted with discernment and insight:
    “Stop with your visions. We’ve had enough of them.”
They say to the prophets, “Tell us only what we’d like to hear;
    save your truth-telling pessimism for someone else.
We want to hear flattery.
¹¹ And for goodness’ sake, stop talking about the Holy One of Israel.
    Get out of the gloomy rut you are in—
Your message is a bit stale—take a different path.”

¹² But the Holy One of Israel says,

Eternal One: Because you refused to accept this truth, My word and purpose,
        and trusted instead in deceit and manipulation, you will fall.
¹³     Your wrongdoing, your misplaced confidence and web of lies,
        will be your undoing.
    Like a breach in a wall that bulges out and suddenly gives way,
        your façade will come crashing down in an instant.
¹⁴     Your destruction will be as complete
        as when someone savagely smashes a piece of pottery.
    There won’t be even a single piece big enough
        to scoop an ember from the fire or skim a sip of water from a cistern.

Eternal One: In returning and rest, you will be saved.
        In quietness and trust you will find strength.

But you refused. ¹⁶     You couldn’t sit still;
        instead, you said, “No! We will ride out of here on horseback.
    Fast horses will give us an edge in battle.”
        But those who pursue you will be faster still.
¹⁷     When one person threatens, a thousand will panic and flee.
        When five terrorize you, all will run pell-mell,
    Until you are as conspicuous as a single flag standing high on a hill.