Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praise to your name,^[c] O Most High,
³ to proclaim your kindness^[d] in the morning
    and your faithfulness during the night,
⁴ with the ten-stringed harp,
    to the melody of the lyre.

¹² My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
^13 [a]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
¹⁴ They are planted in the house of the Lord^[b]
    and will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁵ They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
    and they will remain fresh and green,

^{8     [a]}And so go forth and in their presence
    write it on a scroll,
    inscribe it on a tablet,
so that it may serve hereafter
    as an eternal witness.
⁹ They are a rebellious people,
    deceitful children,
children who refuse to listen
    to the instruction of the Lord.
¹⁰ To the seers they say,
    “Cease to have visions!”
To the prophets they demand,
    “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
    reveal to us pleasant things; prophesy illusions.
¹¹ Cease with your warnings;
    turn aside from the straight path.
We wish to hear nothing further
    about the Holy One of Israel.”

Because you have rejected this warning,
    placing your trust in fraud and deceit
    and relying on them,
¹³ this guilt of yours will become for you
    like a crack appearing in a high wall
that bulges out and continues to widen
    until suddenly, in an instant,
    that wall will come hurtling to the ground.
¹⁴ It will crash and break like an earthenware pot,
    shattered so completely
that among its fragments not a single shard can be found
    to remove an ember from the hearth
    or to scoop out water from a cistern.
¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God,
    the Holy One of Israel:
Your salvation depends upon repentance and tranquility
    and your strength upon quiet trust.
    But you would have none of it.
¹⁶ “No,” you said. “We will flee upon horses.”
    Therefore, you will flee.
“We will ride on swift horses,” you added.
    But your pursuers will be even more swift.
¹⁷ A thousand will tremble at the threat of one;
    if five threaten you, you will flee,
until you are left
    like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain
    or like a banner on a hill.

¹ “I have told you this
to prevent you from falling away.
² They will expel you from the synagogues.
Indeed the hour is coming
when anyone who kills you
will believe that by doing so
he is serving God.
³ And people will do such things
because they have not known the Father or me.
⁴ But I have told you this
so that when the hour arrives
you may remember that I forewarned you about them.

“I did not tell you all this previously
because I was with you.