Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

84 How ^(C)lovely is your ^(D)dwelling place,
    O Lord of hosts!
² My soul ^(E)longs, yes, ^(F)faints
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to ^(G)the living God.
³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    ^(H)my King and my God.
^4 (I)Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever ^(J)singing your praise! Selah
⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    ^(K)in whose heart are the highways to Zion.^[b]
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
    they make it a place of springs;
    ^(L)the early rain also covers it with ^(M)pools.
⁷ They go ^(N)from strength to strength;
    each one ^(O)appears before God in Zion.

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(A)“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
    send for the skilful women to come;
¹⁸ let them make haste ^(B)and raise a wailing over us,
    ^(C)that our eyes may run down with tears
    and our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹ For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ^(D)‘How we are ruined!
    We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
    because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
    and each to her neighbour a dirge.
²¹ For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(E)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.
²² Speak, “Thus declares the Lord:
^(F)‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
^(G)like sheaves after the reaper,
    and none shall gather them.’”