Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for the Nation

80 Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead Joseph like a flock! You Who sit on Your throne above the angels, let Your light shine! ² Stir up Your power in front of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manassah, and come to save us! ³ O God, bring us back to You. Make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

⁴ O Lord God of all, how long will You be angry with the prayers of Your people? ⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears. And You have made them drink a big amount of tears. ⁶ You have made us an object of arguing to our neighbors. Those who hate us laugh among themselves. ⁷ O God of all, bring us back to You. Make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.

¹⁷ Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, the son of man you have made strong for Yourself. ¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from You. Give us new life again, and we will call on Your name. ¹⁹ O Lord God of all, bring us back to You. Make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.

It Is Bad for Wrong-Doers

2 It is bad for those who make plans to do wrong, who lie on their beds thinking of something sinful to do! When morning comes, they do it, because it is in their power. ² They want fields that belong to someone else, and take them. They want houses, and take them. They rob a man and his house, a man and what has been given to him. ³ So the Lord says, “I am planning trouble against this family, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk in pride, for it will be a time of much trouble. ⁴ On that day they will make fun of you and sing a bitter song of sorrow, saying, ‘We are destroyed and everything is gone! My people’s land is divided. He takes it from me! He gives our fields to those who turned against us.’” ⁵ So you will have no one among the Lord’s people to divide the land in a right way for you.

Men Who Lie

⁶ “The people say to me, ‘Do not speak about these things, because we will not be put to shame.’ ⁷ Should it be said, O people of Jacob: “Is the Spirit of the Lord angry? Would He do such things? Do not My Words do good to the one whose way is right and good? ⁸ My people have begun to hate those who are at peace with them. You pull the coat off from a brother Israelite, from those who pass by in peace like men returning from war. ⁹ You drive the women of My people away from their beautiful houses. You take My greatness away from their children forever. ¹⁰ Get up and go away, for this is no place of rest, because it is made unclean. It is destroyed with much suffering. ¹¹ If a man comes speaking lies and says, ‘I will speak to you about wine and strong drink,’ he would be the one for these people!

Israel Is Gathered Together

¹² “I will gather all of you together, Jacob. I will gather all those left of Israel. I will put them together like sheep within a fence, like a flock in its field. The land will be filled with the noise of many people. ¹³ The One Who breaks open the way will go out before them. They will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, and the Lord will lead them.”

Days of Trouble and Pain and Sorrow

¹⁵ “You will see a sinful man-made god standing in the house of God in Jerusalem. It was spoken of by the early preacher Daniel. ^(A) The one who reads this should understand it. ¹⁶ Then those in the country of Judea should run to the mountains. ¹⁷ The man who is on the top of his house should not come down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ The man who is in the field should not go back to get his coat. ¹⁹ It will be hard for a woman who will soon be a mother. It will be hard for the ones feeding babies in those days! ²⁰ Pray that you will not have to go in the winter or on the Day of Rest. ²¹ In those days there will be very much trouble and pain and sorrow. It has never been this bad from the beginning of the world and never will be again. ²² If the time had not been made short, no life would have been saved. Because of God’s people, the time will be made short.

The False Religious Teachers

²³ “If anyone says to you, ‘See! Here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ People who say they are Christ and false preachers will come. They will do special things for people to see. They will do great things, so that if it can be done, God’s people will be fooled to believe something wrong. ²⁵ Listen! I have told you before it comes. ²⁶ If they tell you, ‘See! He is in the desert,’ do not go to see. Or if they say, ‘See! He is in the inside room,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ The Son of Man will come as fast as lightning shines across the sky from east to west. ²⁸ Birds gather wherever there is a dead body.

Jesus Will Come Again in His Shining-Greatness

²⁹ “As soon as those days of trouble and pain and sorrow are over, the sun will get dark. The moon will not give light. The stars will fall from the sky. The powers in the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then something special will be seen in the sky telling of the Son of Man. All nations of the earth will have sorrow. They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and shining-greatness. ³¹ He will send His angels with the loud sound of a horn. They will gather God’s people together from the four winds. They will come from one end of the heavens to the other.