Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A psalm of Asaph.
79 God, an army from the nations has attacked your land.
They have polluted your holy temple.
They have completely destroyed Jerusalem.
2 They have left the dead bodies of your people.
They have left them as food for the birds in the sky.
They have left the bodies of your faithful people.
They have left them for the wild animals.
3 They have poured out the blood of your people like water.
It is all around Jerusalem.
No one is left to bury the dead.
4 We are something our neighbors joke about.
The nations around us laugh at us and make fun of us.
5 Lord, how long will you be angry with us? Will it be forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Bring your great anger against the nations
that don’t pay any attention to you.
Bring it against the kingdoms
that don’t worship you.
7 They have swallowed up the people of Jacob.
They have destroyed Israel’s homeland.
8 Don’t hold against us the sins of our people who lived before us.
May you be quick to show us your tender love.
We are in great need.
9 God our Savior, help us.
Then glory will come to you.
Save us and forgive our sins.
Then people will honor your name.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Show the nations that you punish those who kill your people.
We want to see it happen.
11 Listen to the groans of the prisoners.
Use your strong arm
to save people sentenced to death.
12 Lord, our neighbors have laughed at you.
Pay them back seven times for what they have done.
13 We are your people, your very own sheep.
We will praise you forever.
For all time to come
we will keep on praising you.
A Promised Ruler Will Come From Bethlehem
5 Jerusalem, you are being attacked.
So bring your troops together.
Our enemies have surrounded us.
They want to slap the face of Israel’s ruler.
2 The Lord says,
“Bethlehem Ephrathah, you might not be
an important town in the nation of Judah.
But out of you will come for me
a ruler over Israel.
His family line goes back
to the early years of your nation.
It goes all the way back
to days of long ago.”
3 The Lord will hand over his people to their enemies.
That will last until the pregnant woman bears her promised son.
Then the rest of his relatives in Judah
will return to their land.
4 That promised son will stand firm
and be a shepherd for his flock.
The Lord will give him the strength to do it.
The Lord his God will give him
the authority to rule.
His people will live safely.
His greatness will reach
from one end of the earth to the other.
5 And he will be our peace
when the Assyrians attack our land.
They will march through our forts.
But we will raise up against them many shepherds.
We’ll send out against them
as many commanders as we need to.
34 “Be careful. If you aren’t, your hearts will be loaded down with wasteful living, drunkenness and the worries of life. Then the day the Son of Man returns will close on you like a trap. It will happen suddenly. 35 That day will come on every person who lives on the whole earth. 36 Always keep watching. Pray that you will be able to escape all that is about to happen. Also, pray that you will not be judged guilty when the Son of Man comes.”
37 Each day Jesus taught at the temple. And each evening he went to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives. 38 All the people came to the temple early in the morning. They wanted to hear Jesus speak.
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