Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ Restore us, God of heavenly forces!
    Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt.
    You drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it;
    then it planted its roots deep, filling the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered by its shade;
    the mighty cedars were covered by its branches.
¹¹ It sent its branches all the way to the sea;
    its shoots went all the way to the Euphrates River.^[a]
12 So why have you now torn down its walls
    so that all who come along can pluck its fruit,
¹³     so that any boar from the forest can tear it up,
    so that the bugs can feed on it?

¹⁴ Please come back, God of heavenly forces!
    Look down from heaven and perceive it!
Attend to this vine,
¹⁵     this root that you planted with your strong hand,
    this son whom you secured as your very own.

²³ How can you say,
    “I’m not dirty;
    I haven’t gone after Baals.”
Look what you have done in the valley;
    consider what you have done there.
You are like a frenzied young camel,
    racing around,
²⁴     a wild donkey in the wilderness,
    lustfully sniffing the wind.
Who can restrain such passion?
    Those who desire her need not give up;
    with little effort they will find her in heat.
²⁵ Don’t run about until your feet are blistered
    and your throat is parched.
But you say, “What’s the use?
    I have fallen in love with foreign gods,
        and I must pursue them.”
²⁶ As a thief is ashamed when caught in his tracks,
    so the people of Israel are ashamed—
        their kings, officials, priests, and prophets—
²⁷     when they say to a piece of wood, “You are my father,”
        and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
They have turned their backs to me
    and not their faces.
Yet in their time of trouble they say,
    “Arise and save us!”
²⁸ Where are the gods
        you have made for yourselves?
    Let’s see if they will come through for you in your time of trouble.
    You have as many gods, Judah,
        as you have towns.
²⁹ Why would you bring charges against me?
You have all rebelled against me,
        declares the Lord.
³⁰ I have disciplined your children in vain;
    they have rejected my correction.
You have devoured your prophets
    like a hungry lion.
³¹ People of this generation, listen closely to the Lord’s word:
Have I been a wasteland to Israel
    or a land of dense darkness?
Why then do my people say,
    “We have wandered far away;
    we’ll come to you no longer”?
³² Does a young woman forget her jewelry
    or a bride her wedding dress?
Yet you have forgotten me days without end!
³³     So skilled are you at pursuing lovers^[a]
        that you instruct even the most wicked.^[b]
34 Your garments are stained
    with the blood of the innocent poor,
        even though you didn’t catch them
        breaking and entering.
Yet, despite all this,^{[c] 35} you still insist,
    “I’m innocent;
        as a result he will turn his anger away from me.”
Because you claim not to have sinned,
    I will pass judgment against you.
³⁶ You change sides so casually!
    But Egypt will shame you
    no less than Assyria.
³⁷ From there you will go out
    with your hands on your heads,
        because the Lord has rejected those you rely on;
        they won’t help you.