Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

79 O God, the heathen have come into Your inheritance. They have defiled Your Holy Temple and made Jerusalem heaps of stones.

² The dead bodies of Your servants they have given to be food to birds of the heaven, and the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the Earth.

³ They have shed their blood like waters, all around Jerusalem; and there was no one to bury them.

⁴ We are a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

⁵ LORD, how long will You be angry? Forever? Shall Your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶ Pour out Your wrath upon the heathen who have not known You, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Your Name.

⁷ For they have devoured Jacob and made His dwelling place desolate.

⁸ Do not remember our former iniquities against us, but let Your tender mercies come quickly to meet us; for we are in great misery.

⁹ Help us, O God of Our Salvation, for the Glory of Your Name; and deliver us and be merciful to our sins for Your Name’s sake.

¹⁰ Why should the heathen say, “Where is their God?” Let them be known among the heathen in our sight by the vengeance of the blood of Your servants that is shed.

¹¹ Let the sighing of the prisoners come before You. Preserve the children of death according to Your mighty arm

¹² and render to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached You, O LORD.

¹³ So we, Your people, and sheep of Your pasture, shall praise You forever; and from generation to generation we will set forth Your praise. To him who excels on Shoshannim Eduth: A Psalm committed to Asaph

⁶ “At the same time,” says the LORD, “I will gather she who halts, and I will gather she who is cast out, and she whom I have afflicted.

⁷ “And I will make her who limps a remnant, and her who was cast far off a mighty nation. And the LORD shall reign over them on Mount Zion, from now until forever.

⁸ “And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter Zion! To you it shall come. The former dominion kingdom shall come to the daughter Jerusalem.”

⁹ Now, why do you cry out with lamentation? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished? For sorrow has taken you, as a woman in labor.

¹⁰ Sorrow and mourn, O daughter Zion, like a woman in labor! For now, you shall go forth from the city and dwell in the field and shall go into Babel. There you shall be delivered. There the LORD shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹ Also now, many nations are gathered against you, saying, “Zion shall be condemned!” and “Our eye shall look upon Zion!”

¹² But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD. They do not understand His counsel. For He shall gather them as the sheaves in the barn.

¹³ “Arise and thresh, O daughter Zion! For I will make your horn iron. And I will make your hooves bronze. And you shall break many people in pieces. And I will consecrate their riches to the LORD, and their substance to the Ruler of the whole world.”

18 And after these things, I saw another angel come down from Heaven, having great power, so that the Earth was lightened with his glory,

² And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, saying, “It is fallen! It is fallen! Babylon, that great city, has become the habitation of demons, and the prison of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird!

³ “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the kings of the Earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the Earth have grown rich on the abundance of her pleasures!”

⁴ And I heard another voice from Heaven say, “Come out of her, my people, so that you are not partakers of her sins, and that you do not receive her plagues.

⁵ “For her sins have come up into Heaven. And God has remembered her iniquities.

⁶ “Reward her, even as she has rewarded you. And give her double according to her works. And in the cup that she has filled to you, fill her double.

⁷ “Inasmuch as she glorified herself, and lived in pleasure, give her the same in torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit, being a queen, and am no widow. And I shall see no mourning.’

⁸ “Therefore, her plagues shall come in one day: death and sorrow and famine. And she shall be burnt with fire. For God, who condemns her, is a strong Lord.

⁹ And the kings of the Earth who have committed fornication, and lived in pleasure with her, shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning.

¹⁰ And they shall stand at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon; that mighty city! For in one hour has your judgment come!”