Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ Let me listen to what God, the Lord, says;
    for the Lord will promise peace
to his people, to his holy ones;
    may they not return to foolishness.
⁹ Surely, he will soon deliver those who fear him,
    for his glory will live in our land.

¹⁰ Gracious love and truth meet;
    righteousness and peace kiss.
¹¹ Truth sprouts up from the ground,
    while righteousness looks down from the sky.
¹² The Lord will also provide what is good,
    and our land will yield its produce.
¹³ Righteousness will go before him
    to prepare a path for his steps.

“For three transgressions of Israel
    —and now for a fourth—
        I will not turn away;
because they sold the righteous for money,
    and the poor for sandals,
⁷ moving quickly^[a] to rub the face^[b] of the needy in the dirt.
Corrupting^[c] the ways of the humble,
    a man and his father go to the same woman,
        deliberately defiling my holy name.
⁸ They lay down beside every altar,
    on garments pledged as collateral,^[d]
drinking wine paid for through fines
    imposed by the temple of their gods.
⁹ Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites in front of them,
    though their height seemed like a cedar,^[e]
    though their strength seemed like an oak,
but whose fruit I destroyed from above
    and the roots from beneath.
¹⁰ Furthermore, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
    leading you in the wilderness for 40 years,
        to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
¹¹ I also raised up your sons to be prophets,
    and from your young men I raised up Nazirites.^[f]
Is this not true, people of Israel?”
    declares the Lord.
¹² “But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine,
    and commanded the prophets,
        ‘You are not to prophesy!’

¹³ “Oh, how I am burdened down with you,
    as a wagon is overloaded with harvested grain!
¹⁴ So the swift runner will not escape,^[g]
    the valiant will not fortify his strength,
        and the mighty warrior will not save his life.
¹⁵ The skilled archer will not be able to stand,
    the swift runner will not survive,
        and the mounted rider will not preserve his own life.
¹⁶ Even the bravest of elite troops will run away naked at that time,”
    declares the Lord.