Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

79 God, nations have invaded your land^[a]
    to desecrate your holy Temple,
        to destroy Jerusalem,
² to give the corpses of your servants
    as food for the birds of the skies
and the flesh of your godly ones
    to the beasts of the earth;
³ to make their blood flow like water around Jerusalem,
    with no one being buried.
⁴ We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
    a mockery and a derision to those around us.

¹⁴ Why are we sitting here?
    Join together! Let’s go to the fortified cities
        and perish there!
For the Lord our God has condemned us to perish
    and given us poisoned water to drink,
        because we have sinned against him.^[a]
15 We waited for peace, but no good has come,
    for a time of healing, but instead there was terror.

¹⁶ “The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan.
    At the neighing of their stallions,
        the whole earth quakes.
They’re coming to devour
    the land and all it contains,
        the city and all who live in it.
¹⁷ Look, I’ll send snakes among you,
    vipers that cannot be charmed,
        and they’ll bite you.”

² Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert,
    so that I could leave my people
        and go away from them.
For all of them are adulterers,
    a band of traitors.
³ They use their tongues like a bow.
    Lies rather than truth fly throughout^[a] the land.
They progress from one evil to another,
    and they don’t know me,”
        declares the Lord.
⁴ “Beware of your neighbors, and don’t trust
    any of your relatives.
For all of your relatives act deceitfully,
    and every friend goes around as a slanderer.
⁵ People deceive their friends,
    and they don’t tell the truth.
They have taught their tongues to tell lies.
    They exhaust themselves practicing evil.^[b]
6 You yourself live in the midst of deception,
    and because they are deceived they do not know me,”
        declares the Lord.
⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says:
“Look, I’m about to refine and test them.
    Because they’re my people, what else can I do?^[c]
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow
    that speaks deceit.
With his mouth a person says, ‘Peace,’ to his friend,
    but inwardly he sets a trap for him.
⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?”^[d]
    asks the Lord,
        “and should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?”
¹⁰ I’ll weep and mourn for the mountains,
    and lament for the desert pastures,
because they are desolate and no one passes through them.
    They don’t hear the lowing of the cattle.
Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled.
    They’re gone!
¹¹ “I’ll make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    a refuge for jackals.
I’ll make the towns of Judah desolate,
    without inhabitants.”