Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ Your faithful people, Lord,
will praise you with songs
    and honor your holy name.
⁵ Your anger lasts a little while,
but your kindness lasts
    for a lifetime.
At night we may cry,
but when morning comes
    we will celebrate.

⁶ I felt secure and thought,
    “I'll never be shaken!”
⁷ You, Lord, were my friend,
and you made me strong
    as a mighty mountain.
But when you hid your face,
    I was crushed.

⁸ I prayed to you, Lord,
    and in my prayer I said,
⁹ “What good will it do you
    if I am in the grave?
Once I have turned to dust,
    how can I praise you
or tell how loyal you are?
¹⁰     Have pity, Lord! Help!”

¹¹ You have turned my sorrow
    into joyful dancing.
No longer am I sad
    and wearing sackcloth.^[a]
12 I thank you from my heart,
    and I will never stop
singing your praises,
    my Lord and my God.

³ The Lord was so furiously angry
that he wiped out
    the whole army^[b] of Israel
by not supporting them
    when the enemy attacked.
He was like a raging fire
that swallowed up
    the descendants of Jacob.
⁴ He attacked like an enemy
with a bow and arrows,
    killing our loved ones.
He has burned to the ground
    the homes on Mount Zion.^[c]

⁵ The Lord was like an enemy!
    He left Israel in ruins
with its palaces
    and fortresses destroyed,
and with everyone in Judah
    moaning and weeping.
⁶ He shattered his temple
    like a hut in a garden;^[d]
he completely wiped out
    his meeting place,
and did away with festivals
and Sabbaths
    in the city of Zion.
In his fierce anger he rejected
    our king and priests.

⁷ The Lord abandoned his altar
    and his temple;
he let Zion's enemies
    capture her fortresses.
Noisy shouts were heard
    from the temple,
as if it were a time
    of celebration.

⁸ The Lord had decided
to tear down the walls of Zion
    stone by stone.
So he started destroying
    and did not stop
until walls and fortresses
    mourned and trembled.
⁹ Zion's gates have fallen
    facedown on the ground;
the bars that locked the gates
    are smashed to pieces.
Her king and royal family
are prisoners
    in foreign lands.
Her priests don't teach,
and her prophets don't have
    a message from the Lord.

¹⁰ Zion's leaders are silent.
    They just sit on the ground,
tossing dirt on their heads
    and wearing sackcloth.
Her young women can do nothing
    but stare at the ground.

¹¹ My eyes are red from crying,
my stomach is in knots,
    and I feel sick all over.
My people are being wiped out,
and children lie helpless
    in the streets of the city.
¹² A child begs its mother
    for food and drink,
then blacks out
like a wounded soldier
    lying in the street.
The child slowly dies
    in its mother's arms.