Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 79
Faith amid Confusion
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God, the nations have invaded your inheritance,
desecrated your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.(B)
2 They gave the corpses of your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of your faithful ones
to the beasts of the earth.(C)
3 They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(D)
4 We have become an object of reproach
to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule
to those around us.(E)
5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy keep burning like fire?(F)
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don’t acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,(G)
7 for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.(H)
8 Do not hold past iniquities[a] against us;
let your compassion come to us quickly,
for we have become very weak.(I)
Death over Life
8 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.(A) 2 They will be exposed(B) to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky,(C) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.(D) 3 Death will be chosen over life(E) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.”(F) This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
4 “You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?(G)
If they turn away, do they not return?
5 Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;(H)
they refuse to return.(I)
6 I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.(J)
7 Even storks in the sky
know their seasons.
Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes[a]
are aware of their migration,
but my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.(K)
Punishment for Judah’s Leaders
8 “How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the Lord is with us’?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes(L)
has produced falsehood.
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord,(M)
so what wisdom do they really have?
10 Therefore, I will give(N) their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,(O)
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have treated the brokenness
of my dear[b] people superficially,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”(P)
says the Lord.
The Believer’s Triumph
31 What, then, are we to say about these things?(A) If God is for us, who is against us?(B) 32 He did not even spare his own Son(C) but gave him up for us all.(D) How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?(E) God is the one who justifies.(F) 34 Who is the one who condemns?(G) Christ Jesus is the one who died,(H) but even more, has been raised;(I) he also is at the right hand of God(J) and intercedes for us.(K) 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction(L) or distress or persecution(M) or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;(N)
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.[a](O)
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors(P) through him who loved us.(Q) 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,(R) nor angels nor rulers,(S) nor things present nor things to come,(T) nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God(U) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(V)
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