Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

^3 (A) Why do we humans mean anything
to you, our Lord?
    Why do you care about us?
⁴ We disappear like a breath;
we last no longer
    than a faint shadow.

⁵ Open the heavens like a curtain
    and come down, Lord.
Touch the mountains
    and make them send up smoke.
⁶ Use your lightning as arrows
to scatter my enemies
    and make them run away.
⁷ Reach down from heaven
    and set me free.
Save me from the mighty flood
⁸ of those lying foreigners
    who never tell the truth.

⁹ In praise of you, our God,
I will sing a new song,
    while playing my harp.
¹⁰ By your power, kings win wars,
and your servant David is saved
    from deadly swords.
¹¹ Won't you keep me safe
from those lying foreigners
    who never tell the truth?

¹² Let's pray that our young sons
    will grow like strong plants
and that our daughters
will be as lovely as columns
    in the corner of a palace.
¹³ May our barns be filled
    with all kinds of crops.
May our fields be covered
with sheep by the thousands,
¹⁴     and every cow have calves.^[c]
Don't let our city be captured
    or any of us be taken away,
and don't let cries of sorrow
    be heard in our streets.

¹⁵ Our Lord and our God,
you give these blessings
    to all who worship you.

¹⁰ Your mother was a vine like you,^[a]
    growing near a stream.
There was plenty of water,
so she was filled with branches
    and with lots of fruit.
¹¹ Her strong branches
    became symbols of authority,
and she was taller
    than all other trees—
everyone could see how strong
    and healthy she was.
¹² But in anger, I pulled her up
    by the roots
and threw her to the ground,
where the scorching desert wind
    dried out her fruit.
Her strong branches wilted
    and burned up.
¹³ Then she was planted
    in a hot, dry desert,
¹⁴ where her stem caught fire,
and flames burned
    her branches and fruit.
Not one strong branch is left;
    she is stripped bare.