Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 79
A song of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations around us have raided the land that belongs to You;
they have defiled Your holy house
and crushed Jerusalem to a heap of ruins.
2 Your servants are dead;
birds of the air swoop down to pick at their remains.
Scavengers of the earth eat what is left of Your saints.
3 The enemy poured out their blood;
it flowed like water
all over Jerusalem,
and there is no one left, no one to bury what remains of them.
4 The surrounding peoples taunt us.
We are nothing but a joke to them, people to be ridiculed.
The Book of Psalms records both the highs and lows in the lives of God’s covenant people. Psalm 79 is an example of a communal lament after the destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of God’s temple. Songs like these address God with a complaint resulting from some sort of national tragedy.
Communal laments share a common structure. First, the singers address God and tell Him of their problems. Second, they beg Him for help and express trust that He will answer them, often remembering how He has saved Israel in the past. Finally, the singers promise to praise God once He has resolved their problem. The specifics of the situation determine the thrust of the song. Communal laments are often the people’s poetic and practical response to their perception of God’s inaction in their affairs.
5 How long can this go on, O Eternal One?
Will You stay angry at us forever?
Your jealousy burning like wildfire?
6 Flood these outsiders with Your wrath—
they have no knowledge of You!
Drown the kingdoms of this world
that call on false gods and not on Your name.
7 For these nations devoured Jacob, consumed him,
and turned his home into a wasteland.
8 Do not hold the sins of our ancestors against us,
but send Your compassion to meet us quickly, God.
We are in deep despair.
9 Help us, O God who saves us,
to the honor and glory of Your name.
Pull us up, deliver us, and forgive our sins,
for Your name’s sake.
10 Don’t give these people any reason to ask,
“Where is their God?”
Avenge the blood spilled by Your servants.
Put it on display among the nations before our very eyes.
11 May the deep groans and wistful sighs of the prisoners reach You,
and by Your great power, save those condemned to die.
12 Pay back each of our invaders personally, seven times
for the shame they heaped on You, O Lord!
13 Then we, Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
will pause and give You thanks forever;
Your praise will be told by our generation to the next.
In the New Testament Jesus speaks of a kingdom where love, respect, and peace are the norms. It is clear that Micah, too, looks toward a future when there will be no war and neighbors will share their shade trees with no fear. A time without war and hostility between nations and neighbors can only be realized under the rule of the Prince of Peace.
6 Eternal One: In that day of hope, I will gather the lame,
bring together all those who have been driven away and those whom I have injured.
7 From those who were lame I will create a remnant,
and from those who were cast off I will create a strong nation;
And the Eternal will reign over them in Mount Zion
now and forevermore.
8 And to you, the tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion,
your former authority will return to you, the royal authority of the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now, why do you cry aloud?
Don’t you have a king in your midst?
Has your counselor vanished,
allowing pain to paralyze you as it does a woman in labor?
10 Writhe in pain and groan, daughter of Zion,
like a woman about to give birth,
For now you must leave your city to wander in the fields
on your way back to slavery, this time in Babylon.
And from there the Eternal One will pay your ransom and pluck you
from the hands of your enemies.
11 Many nations have gathered to fight you, saying,
“Let her be laid waste before us;
let’s feast our eyes on Mount Zion!”
12 But they don’t know what the Eternal One is thinking,
are not privy to His plans:
He has gathered them like sheaves on the floor of a threshing house.
13 Eternal One: Come on in, and start threshing this grain, daughter of Zion;
I will make your horn like iron, your hooves like bronze,
So that you will stomp many people beneath them.
And they will dedicate what they have stolen to the Eternal,
their wealth to the Lord of the entire earth.
Because Babylon is the city responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem’s first temple in 586 b.c., John uses this ominous symbol to describe the Babylon of his day—Rome, the city on seven hills. In a.d. 70, the Roman armies march against Jerusalem, destroy the second temple, and scatter the Jewish people.
The whore, who is identified as Babylon, is a symbol to readers in John’s day of Rome and its allure. Its beauty and power are legendary, but beneath the surface lies the truth of its nature. People who ally themselves with Rome and all that it represents are partners with ruin. In the years since John’s Revelation was first written, the whore has been seen as many different world forces. What Rome represents in John’s day has been replicated by many different world powers and their material attractions.
18 Next I saw another messenger descending from heaven. I knew he possessed great authority because his glory illuminated the earth.
2 Heavenly Messenger (with a powerful voice): Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great city!
It has become a habitat for demons,
A haunt for every kind of foul spirit,
a prison for every sort of unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all the nations have drunk deeply
from the wine of the wrath of her immorality,
And the kings of the earth have disgraced themselves by engaging in gross sexual acts with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown fat and rich, profiting off the power purchased with her luxury.
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven urge,
A Voice: My people, get away from her—fast.
Make sure you do not get caught up in her sins.
Put some distance between you so that you do not share in her plagues,
5 For her sins are higher than the highest mountain. They reach far into the heavens,
and God has not forgotten even one of her missteps.
6 Deal out to her what she has dealt out to others,
and repay her double according to her deeds.
In the cup where she mixed her drink, mix her a double.
7 Whatever glory she demanded and whatever luxury she lived,
give back to her the same measure in torment and sorrow.
Secretly she says in her heart:
“I rule as queen;
I am not like a widow;
I will never experience grief.”
8 Because of this arrogance, in a single day, plagues will overwhelm her.
Her portion will be death and sorrow and famine,
And she will be incinerated with fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who exacts judgment on her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed lewd, sexual acts and lived lavishly off of her, will weep and wail over their loss when they see the smoke from her burning body rise into the sky. 10 They will stand at a distance, fearing they, too, might fall victim to her torment. They will moan,
Woe to you, our great city!
Babylon, the most powerful city in the world.
In a single hour, your day of judgment has come.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.