Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴⁰ That is why the Lord’s anger burned against his people,
    and he abhorred his own special possession.
⁴¹ He handed them over to pagan nations,
    and they were ruled by those who hated them.
⁴² Their enemies crushed them
    and brought them under their cruel power.
⁴³ Again and again he rescued them,
    but they chose to rebel against him,
    and they were finally destroyed by their sin.
⁴⁴ Even so, he pitied them in their distress
    and listened to their cries.
⁴⁵ He remembered his covenant with them
    and relented because of his unfailing love.
⁴⁶ He even caused their captors
    to treat them with kindness.

⁴⁷ Save us, O Lord our God!
    Gather us back from among the nations,
so we can thank your holy name
    and rejoice and praise you.

⁴⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    who lives from everlasting to everlasting!
Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!

“Do not act like the other nations,
    who try to read their future in the stars.
Do not be afraid of their predictions,
    even though other nations are terrified by them.
³ Their ways are futile and foolish.
    They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
⁴ They decorate it with gold and silver
    and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
    so it won’t fall over.
⁵ Their gods are like
    helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
    and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
    for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

⁶ Lord, there is no one like you!
    For you are great, and your name is full of power.
⁷ Who would not fear you, O King of nations?
    That title belongs to you alone!
Among all the wise people of the earth
    and in all the kingdoms of the world,
    there is no one like you.

⁸ People who worship idols are stupid and foolish.
    The things they worship are made of wood!
⁹ They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish
    and gold from Uphaz,
and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen
    who make their idols.
Then they dress these gods in royal blue and purple robes
    made by expert tailors.
¹⁰ But the Lord is the only true God.
    He is the living God and the everlasting King!
The whole earth trembles at his anger.
    The nations cannot stand up to his wrath.

¹² But the Lord made the earth by his power,
    and he preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
    he stretched out the heavens.
¹³ When he speaks in the thunder,
    the heavens roar with rain.
He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.
    He sends the lightning with the rain
    and releases the wind from his storehouses.
¹⁴ The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!
    The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
    These idols have no breath or power.
¹⁵ Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!
    On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
¹⁶ But the God of Israel^[b] is no idol!
    He is the Creator of everything that exists,
including Israel, his own special possession.
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!