Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 80[a]
For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;[b] a psalm of Asaph.
80 O Shepherd of Israel, pay attention,
you who lead Joseph like a flock of sheep.
You who sit enthroned above the cherubim,[c] reveal your splendor.[d]
2 In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal[e] your power.
Come and deliver us.[f]
3 O God, restore us.
Smile on us.[g] Then we will be delivered.[h]
4 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,[i]
how long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you?[j]
5 You have given them tears as food;[k]
you have made them drink tears by the measure.[l]
6 You have made our neighbors dislike us,[m]
and our enemies insult us.
7 O God of Heaven’s Armies,[n] restore us.
Smile on us.[o] Then we will be delivered.[p]
Land Robbers Will Lose Their Land
2 Beware wicked schemers,[a]
those who devise calamity as they lie in bed.[b]
As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans,[c]
because they have the power to do so.
2 They confiscate the fields they desire
and seize the houses they want.[d]
They defraud people of their homes[e]
and deprive people of the land they have inherited.[f]
3 Therefore the Lord says this:
“Look, I am devising disaster for this nation![g]
It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck.[h]
You will no longer[i] walk proudly,
for it will be a time of catastrophe.
4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you—
they will mock you with this lament:[j]
‘We are completely destroyed;
they sell off[k] the property of my people.
How they remove it from me![l]
They assign our fields to the conqueror.’”[m]
5 Therefore no one will assign you land in the Lord’s community.[n]
6 “Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,” they say excitedly.[o]
“These prophets should not preach of such things;
we will not be overtaken by humiliation.”[p]
7 Does the family[q] of Jacob say,[r]
“The Lord’s patience[s] can’t be exhausted—
he would never do such things”?[t]
To be sure, my commands bring a reward
for those who obey them,[u]
8 but you rise up as an enemy against my people.[v]
You steal a robe from a friend,[w]
from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war.[x]
9 You wrongly evict widows[y] among my people from their cherished homes.
You defraud their children[z] of their prized inheritance.[aa]
10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave![ab]
For this land is not secure;[ac]
sin will thoroughly destroy it![ad]
11 If a lying windbag should come and say,[ae]
‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’[af]
he would be just the right preacher for these people![ag]
The Lord Will Restore His People
12 “I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,
I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain.[ah]
I will bring them together like sheep in a fold,[ai]
like a flock in the middle of a pasture;[aj]
they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise.[ak]
13 The one who can break through barriers will lead them out;[al]
they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave.[am]
Their king will advance[an] before them;
the Lord himself will lead them.”[ao]
The Abomination of Desolation
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation[a]—spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand),[b] 16 “then those in Judea must flee[c] to the mountains. 17 The one on the roof[d] must not come down[e] to take anything out of his house, 18 and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 Woe[f] to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! 20 Pray[g] that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great suffering[h] unlike anything that has happened[i] from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’[j] or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. 24 For false messiahs[k] and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 Remember,[l] I have told you ahead of time. 26 So then, if someone[m] says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’[n] do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. 27 For just like the lightning[o] comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures[p] will gather.[q]
The Arrival of the Son of Man
29 “Immediately[r] after the suffering[s] of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.[t] 30 Then[u] the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,[v] and[w] all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They[x] will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven[y] with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven[z] to the other.
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