Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

A prayer for help^[a]

The Lord will beat the enemies of Jerusalem

12 This is the Lord's message about Israel. The Lord made the skies and the whole wide earth. He makes men and women.

² ‘I will frighten the enemies that live round Jerusalem. I will frighten them so much that they will run. They will run as fast as they can from Jerusalem and from Judah.

³ There will be a time when all the countries of the earth will be ready to attack Jerusalem. Then I will make Jerusalem like a heavy rock that nobody can move. All those who try to lift it will hurt themselves very badly.

⁴ On that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will make every horse very afraid. I will make all the men that ride them crazy. I want to help Judah's people. And so, I will not let the horses of the enemy see any longer.

⁵ Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, “The Lord Almighty, their God, makes the people in Jerusalem strong. And they will help us.”

⁶ On that day, I will make the leaders of Judah like fire in a forest. I will make them like fire among wheat that the farmer has cut. They will kill all the people from round Jerusalem, but the people in Jerusalem will be safe.

⁷ The Lord will save the homes of the people from Judah first. So David's family and the people who live in Jerusalem will not be greater than the people from Judah.^[a]

⁸ On that day, the Lord will save the people who live in Jerusalem. Even sick people will be as strong as King David was. The family of David will lead the people from Jerusalem like the angel of the Lord. God himself will go before them.

⁹ On that day, I will destroy all the countries that fight against Israel.

They will weep for the man that they killed

¹⁰ I will cause the family of David and the people in Jerusalem to think seriously about me. Then they will know that I am kind to them. And they will want to pray to me. They will look at me whom they pierced (made holes in). They will weep about him as those that weep after the death of their only son. They will cry aloud as if their only son was dead.

¹¹ On that day, people will weep loudly in Jerusalem. It will be like when they were weeping about Hadad-Rimmon in the fields of Megiddo.^[b]

¹² All the people will weep. Each family will weep by itself. The family of King David will weep by itself. And their wives will weep by themselves. The family of Nathan will weep by itself. And their wives will weep by themselves.

¹³ The family of Levi will weep by itself. And their wives will weep by themselves. The family of Shimei will weep by itself. And their wives will weep by themselves.

¹⁴ And all the families that have not died will weep by themselves. And their wives will weep by themselves.’

The Lord takes away the sin of the people

13 ‘On that day, water will start to pour from a fountain for King David's descendants and Jerusalem's people. It will make them clean from their sins and the dirty things that they have done.’

⁹ So be careful! People will be against you. They will take you to stand in front of their leaders. They will punish you with whips in their meeting places. They will take you to stand in front of kings and rulers. This will happen because you are my disciples. You will tell them the good news about me. ¹⁰ Yes, you must first tell the good news about me to people in every country. ¹¹ When people take you to their leaders to show that you have done bad things, do not be afraid. Do not worry about what you should say. You should say the words that God gives you at that time. You will not be speaking your own words. Those words will come from the Holy Spirit.

¹² At that time, a man will let people kill his own brother. A father will let people kill his own child. Children will be against their parents. They will even ask people to kill their parents. ¹³ All people will hate you because you are my disciples. But God will save the person who remains strong until the end.

¹⁴ There will be a time when you will see in the temple a disgusting thing that causes trouble. You will see it in a place where it should not be. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.) At that time, people in Judea must run away to the hills to hide.^{[a] 15} A person who is on the roof of his house must not go down into the house.^[b] He must not stop to get anything from his home. ¹⁶ A person who is outside in his field must not go back to his home. He must not return even to fetch his coat.

¹⁷ That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby. It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies. ¹⁸ You must pray to God that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. ¹⁹ Very bad troubles will happen to people at that time and cause them a lot of pain. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since God created the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again. ²⁰ The Lord God will cause those days of very bad trouble to come to an end. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to be not too many. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen. ²¹ At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah!” Or they may say, “Look, he is there!” If they say that, do not believe them. ²² Some people will even say, “I am the Messiah.” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen. ²³ So watch out! I have told you about all these things before they happen.