Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹³⁷ Lord, you are righteous
    and your laws are completely fair.
¹³⁸ The rules that you have given to us are good and right.
    We can trust them completely.
¹³⁹ I am so upset that it almost kills me,
    because my enemies do not accept your message.
¹⁴⁰ I know that your promises are completely true.
    I love them more than anything.
¹⁴¹ I am not important enough for people to respect me,
    but I do not forget your teaching.
¹⁴² You will always do what is right
    and your law is completely true.
¹⁴³ I have much trouble and it makes me afraid,
    but your commands make me happy.
¹⁴⁴ Your rules are always fair.
Help me to understand them,
    so that I may find true life.

⁵ ‘All of you, look carefully at the other nations.
    You will be very surprised at what is happening.
While you are still alive, I will do a very surprising thing.
    You would not believe it even if someone told you.
⁶ I will give more power to the Babylonians.
    They are a cruel nation with brave soldiers.
They march across the whole earth.
    They take cities that do not belong to them.
⁷ They cause people to be very afraid.
    They obey no laws except their own rules.
⁸ Their horses run faster than leopards.
They are more cruel than wolves
    that attack in the evening.
Their riders come on fast horses
    from places that are far away.
They quickly attack their enemies,
    like hungry eagles that fly down to catch chickens.
⁹ Their whole army comes to do violent things.
    They march forward like a wind from the desert.
They make people their prisoners,
    as easily as if they are picking up sand.
¹⁰ They insult kings,
    and they laugh at rulers.
They laugh at all the strong cities of their enemies.
They build heaps of earth against the walls,
    and they take those cities for themselves.
¹¹ Their army quickly moves on to another place,
    like a wind that blows.
They think that their own god has made them strong,
    and so they are guilty.’^[a]

¹² Lord, you have always been God,
    since the beginning.
You are the God that I worship as holy,
    and you will never die.
Lord, you have chosen the Babylonians
    as your weapon to punish your people.
You are a strong rock to protect us,
    but you have decided to use them to punish us.
¹³ But you are too holy to accept anything that is evil.
    You cannot agree with people who do wrong things.
So why do you let these wicked people live?
    Why do you say nothing?
They are killing people who are more righteous than themselves.
¹⁴ It seems that you have made people like fish in the sea.
    They are like animals that have no leader to rule them.
¹⁵ The Babylonians can easily catch them,
    like people who catch fish with hooks.
They throw their nets into the water,
    and they catch as many as they want.
When they store their fish in special nets,
    they sing happy songs.
¹⁶ Their nets give them everything that they need,
    so they offer sacrifices to their nets.
Their nets give them plenty of good food to eat,
    so they burn incense to thank their nets.
¹⁷ Will you let them continue to do that?
Will they make their nets full of fish
    as many times as they want to?
Will they continue to destroy other nations
    and never stop?^[b]