Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ God All-Powerful, 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 ground 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 All-Powerful, come back.
    Look down from heaven and see.
Take care of us, your vine.
¹⁵ You planted this shoot with your own hands
    and strengthened this child.

²⁶ “A thief is ashamed when someone catches him stealing.
    In the same way, the family of Israel is ashamed—
they, their kings, their officers,
    their priests, and their prophets.
²⁷ They say to things of wood, ‘You are my father,’
    and to idols of stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’
Those people won’t look at me;
    they have turned their backs to me.
But when they get into trouble, they say,
    ‘Come and save us!’
²⁸ Where are the idols you made for yourselves?
    Let them come and save you
    when you are in trouble!
People of Judah, you have as many idols
    as you have towns!

²⁹ “Why do you complain to me?
    All of you have turned against me,” says the Lord.
³⁰ “I punished your people, but it did not help.
    They didn’t come back when they were punished.
With your swords you killed your prophets
    like a hungry lion.

Have I been like a desert to the people of Israel
    or like a dark and dangerous land?
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to wander.
    We won’t come to you anymore’?
³² A young woman does not forget her jewelry,
    and a bride does not forget the decorations for her dress.
But my people have forgotten me
    for more days than can be counted.
³³ You really know how to chase after love.
    Even the worst women can learn evil ways from you.
³⁴ Even on your clothes you have the blood
    of poor and innocent people,
    but they weren’t thieves you caught breaking in.
You do all these things,
³⁵ but you say, ‘I am innocent.
    God is not angry with me.’
But I will judge you guilty of lying,
    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
³⁶ It is so easy for you to change your mind.
    Even Egypt will let you down,
    as Assyria let you down.
³⁷ You will eventually leave that place
    with your hands on your head, like captives.
You trusted those countries,
    but you will not be helped by them,
because the Lord has rejected them.