Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Lament for Jerusalem after Its Destruction
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
79 O God, the nations have entered your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have reduced Jerusalem to ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of the heavens,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was none to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
a derision and a scorn to those around us.
5 How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name,
7 because they[b] have devoured Jacob
and have laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us former iniquities;
let your mercies meet us quickly
because we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
and deliver us and forgive[c] our sins
for the sake of your name.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let it[d] be known among the nations before our eyes,
by the avenging of the blood of your servants
that was poured out.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the greatness of your power,[e]
spare[f] the children appointed to death.
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold upon them[g]
their taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord.
13 Then we, your people and the flock of your pasture,
we will give thanks to you forever.
Generation after generation[h]
we will tell of your praise.
A Ruler from Bethlehem
5 [a] Now muster troops, O daughter of troops;
a siege he puts against us.
They strike the ruler of Israel
with a rod on the cheek.
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you one will go out for me,
to be ruler in Israel;
and his origins are from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he will give them up
until the time of she who is with child has given birth.
And the rest of his brothers will return
to the children of Israel.
4 And he will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of Yahweh,
in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God.
And they will live,
for now he will be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this one will be peace.
As for the Assyrian,[b] when he comes into our land
and when he treads on our fortresses,
then we will raise up against him seven shepherds
and eight leaders of men.
Be Alert
34 “But take care for yourselves, lest your hearts are weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of daily life, and that day come upon you suddenly 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who reside on the face of the whole earth. 36 But be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 So throughout the days he was teaching in the temple courts,[a] and throughout the nights he was going out and[b] spending the night on the hill that is called the Mount of Olives. 38 And all the people were getting up very early in the morning to come[c] to him in the temple courts[d] to listen to him.
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