Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

74 O God, why do you ^(B)cast us off for ever?
    Why does your anger ^(C)smoke against ^(D)the sheep of your pasture?
^2 (E)Remember your congregation, which you have ^(F)purchased of old,
    which you have ^(G)redeemed to be ^(H)the tribe of your heritage!
    Remember Mount Zion, ^(I)where you have dwelt.
³ Direct your steps to ^(J)the perpetual ruins;
    the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
⁴ Your foes have ^(K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
    ^(L)they set up their ^(M)own signs for ^(N)signs.
⁵ They were like those who swing ^(O)axes
    in a forest of trees.^[b]
6 And all its ^(P)carved wood
    they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They ^(Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
    they ^(R)profaned ^(S)the dwelling place of your name,
    bringing it down to the ground.
⁸ They ^(T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
    they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
⁹ We do not see our ^(U)signs;
    ^(V)there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, ^(W)is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile your name for ever?
¹¹ Why ^(X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the fold of your garment^[c] and destroy them!
¹² Yet ^(Y)God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You ^(Z)divided the sea by your might;
    you ^(AA)broke the heads of ^(AB)the sea monsters^[d] on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of ^(AC)Leviathan;
    you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You ^(AD)split open springs and brooks;
    you ^(AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you have established ^(AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have ^(AG)fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
    you have made ^(AH)summer and winter.
^18 (AI)Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
    and ^(AJ)a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of your ^(AK)dove to the wild beasts;
    ^(AL)do not forget the life of your poor for ever.
²⁰ Have regard for ^(AM)the covenant,
    for ^(AN)the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not ^(AO)the downtrodden ^(AP)turn back in shame;
    let ^(AQ)the poor and needy praise your name.
²² Arise, O God, ^(AR)defend your cause;
    ^(AS)remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
    ^(AT)the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

¹⁶ O Lord, ^(A)in distress they sought you;
    they poured out a whispered prayer
    when your discipline was upon them.
^17 (B)Like a pregnant woman
    who writhes and cries out in her pangs
    when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
^{18     (C)}we were pregnant, we writhed,
    but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
    and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
^19 (D)Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
    You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For ^(E)your dew is a dew of light,
    and the earth will give birth to the dead.
²⁰ Come, my people, enter your chambers,
    and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves ^(F)for a little while
    until the fury has passed by.
^21 (G)For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place
    to punish the inhabitants of ^(H)the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
    and will no more cover its slain.