Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

12 A revelation of Yahweh’s word concerning Israel: Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says: ² “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem. ³ It will happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it. ⁴ In that day,” says Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with terror and his rider with madness. I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Armies their God.’

⁶ In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.

⁷ Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah. ⁸ In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and David’s house will be like God, like Yahweh’s angel before them. ⁹ It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰ I will pour on David’s house and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. They will look to me^[a] whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for his firstborn. ¹¹ In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; ¹⁴ all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

13 “In that day there will be a fountain opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

⁹ “But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them. ¹⁰ The Good News must first be preached to all the nations. ¹¹ When they lead you away and deliver you up, don’t be anxious beforehand or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “But when you see the abomination of desolation,^(A) spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, ¹⁵ and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. ¹⁶ Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days! ¹⁸ Pray that your flight won’t be in the winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days. ²¹ Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ don’t believe it. ²² For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. ²³ But you watch.

“Behold, I have told you all things beforehand.