Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Nation in Trouble Prays
A maskil of Asaph.
74 God, why have you rejected us for so long?
Why are you angry with us, the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people you bought long ago.
You saved us. We are your very own.
You live on Mount Zion.
3 Make your way through these old ruins.
The enemy wrecked everything in the Temple.
4 Those who were against you shouted in your meeting place.
They raised their flags there.
5 They came with axes raised
as if to cut down a forest of trees.
6 They smashed the carved panels
with their axes and hatchets.
7 They burned your Temple to the ground.
They have made the place where you live unclean.
8 They thought, “We will completely crush them!”
They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
9 We do not see any signs.
There are no more prophets.
And no one knows how long this will last.
10 God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of you?
Will they insult you forever?
11 Why do you hold back your power?
Bring your power out in the open and destroy them!
12 God, you have been our king for a long time.
You have saved this country.
13 You split open the sea by your power.
You broke the heads of the sea monster.
14 You smashed the heads of the monster Leviathan.
You gave him to the desert creatures as food.
15 You opened up the springs and streams.
And you made the rivers run dry.
16 Both the day and the night are yours.
You made the sun and the moon.
17 You made all the limits on the earth.
You created summer and winter.
18 Lord, remember how the enemy insulted you.
Remember how those foolish people turned away from you.
19 Do not give us, your doves, to those wild animals.
Never forget your poor people.
20 Remember the agreement you made with us
because violence fills every dark corner of this land.
21 Do not let your suffering people be disgraced.
The poor and helpless people praise you.
22 God, come and defend yourself.
Remember the insults that come from those foolish people all day long.
23 Don’t forget what your enemies said.
Don’t forget their roar as they rise against you always.
16 Lord, people remember you when they are in trouble.
They say quiet prayers to you when you punish them.
17 Lord, when we are with you,
we are like a woman giving birth to a baby.
She cries and has pain from the birth.
18 In the same way, we had pain.
We gave birth, but only to wind.
We don’t bring salvation to the land.
We don’t make new people for the world.
19 Your people have died, but they will live again.
Their bodies will rise from death.
Dead people in the ground,
get up and be happy!
The dew covering you is like the dew of a new day.
The ground will give birth to the dead buried in it.
Judgment: Reward or Punishment
20 My people, go into your rooms.
Shut your doors behind you.
Hide in your rooms for a short time.
Hide until God’s anger is finished.
21 The Lord will leave his place.
He will punish the people of the world for their sins.
The earth will show the blood of the people who have been killed.
It will not cover the dead any longer.
27 At that time the Lord will judge Leviathan, the gliding snake.
He will punish Leviathan, the coiled snake.
The Lord will use his great sword,
his hard and powerful sword.
He will kill the monster in the sea.
Jesus’ Power Is from God
14 One time Jesus was sending a demon out of a man who could not talk. When the demon came out, the man was able to speak. The people were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “Jesus uses the power of Beelzebul to force demons out of people. Beelzebul is the ruler of demons.”
16 Other people wanted to test Jesus. They asked him to give them a sign from heaven. 17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, “Every kingdom that is divided and fights against itself will be destroyed. And a family that fights against itself will break apart. 18 So if Satan is fighting against himself, then how will his kingdom last? You say that I use the power of Beelzebul to force out demons. 19 But if I use the power of Beelzebul to force out demons, then by what power do your people force out demons? So your own people prove that you are wrong. 20 But if I use the power of God to force out demons, the kingdom of God has come to you!
21 “When a strong man with many weapons guards his own house, then the things in his house are safe. 22 But suppose a stronger man comes and defeats him. The stronger man will take away the weapons that the first man trusted to keep his house safe. Then the stronger man will do what he wants with the first man’s things.
23 “If anyone is not with me, he is against me. He who does not work with me is working against me.
The Empty Man
24 “When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest. But that spirit finds no place to rest. So it says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’ 25 When the spirit comes back to that person, it finds that home swept clean and made neat. 26 Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself. Then all the evil spirits go into that person and live there. And he has even more trouble than he had before.”
People Who Are Truly Blessed
27 When Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out. She said to Jesus, “Your mother is blessed because she gave birth to you and nursed you.”
28 But Jesus said, “Those who hear the teaching of God and obey it—they are the ones who are truly blessed.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.