Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ Sing the praises of the Lord, you who are faithful to him.
    Praise him, because his name is holy.
⁵ His anger lasts for only a moment.
    But his favor lasts for a person’s whole life.
Weeping can stay for the night.
    But joy comes in the morning.

⁶ When I felt safe, I said,
    “I will always be secure.”
⁷ Lord, when you gave me your help,
    you made Mount Zion stand firm.
But when you took away your help,
    I was terrified.

⁸ Lord, I called out to you.
    I cried to you for mercy.
⁹ I said, “What good will come if I become silent in death?
    What good will come if I go down into the grave?
Can the dust of my dead body praise you?
    Can it tell how faithful you are?
¹⁰ Lord, hear me. Have mercy on me.
    Lord, help me.”

¹¹ You turned my loud crying into dancing.
    You removed my clothes of sadness and dressed me with joy.
¹² So my heart will sing your praises. I can’t keep silent.
    Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.

2 See how the Lord covered the city of Zion
    with the cloud of his anger!
He threw Israel’s glory down
    from heaven to earth.
When he was angry, he turned his back
    on his own city.

² Without pity the Lord swallowed up
    all the homes of Jacob’s people.
When he was angry, he tore down
    the forts of the people of Judah.
He brought down their kingdom and princes
    to the ground in dishonor.

³ When he was very angry,
    he took away Israel’s power.
He pulled back his powerful right hand
    as the enemy approached.
His burning anger blazed out in Jacob’s land.
    It burned up everything near it.

⁴ Like an enemy the Lord got his bow ready to use.
    He had a sword in his right hand.
Like an enemy he destroyed
    everything that used to be pleasing to him.
His anger blazed out like fire.
    It burned up the homes in the city of Zion.

⁵ The Lord was like an enemy.
    He swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all of its palaces.
    He destroyed its forts.
He filled the people of Judah
    with sorrow and sadness.

⁶ The Lord’s temple was like a garden.
    But he completely destroyed it.
He destroyed the place
    where he used to meet with his people.
He made Zion’s people forget
    their appointed feasts and Sabbath days.
When he was very angry, he turned his back on
    king and priest alike.

⁷ The Lord deserted his altar.
    He left his temple.
He gave the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces
    into the hands of her enemies.
They shouted loudly in the house of the Lord.
    You would have thought it was the day
    of an appointed feast.

⁸ The Lord decided to tear down
    the walls around the city of Zion.
He measured out what he wanted to destroy.
    Then he destroyed Jerusalem by his power.
He made even her towers and walls sing songs of sadness.
    All of them fell down.

⁹ Her gates sank down into the ground.
    He broke the metal bars that locked her gates, and he destroyed them.
Her king and princes were taken away to other nations.
    There is no law anymore.
Jerusalem’s prophets no longer receive
    visions from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of the city of Zion
    sit silently on the ground.
They have sprinkled dust on their heads.
    They’ve put on the clothes of sadness.
The young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads toward the ground.

¹¹ I’ve cried so much I can’t see very well.
    I’m suffering deep down inside.
My heart is broken
    because my people are destroyed.
Children and babies are fainting
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They say to their mothers,
    “Where can we find something to eat and drink?”
They faint like wounded soldiers
    in the streets of the city.
Their lives are slipping away
    in their mothers’ arms.