Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ ¶ O God, the Gentiles are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

² The dead bodies of thy slaves they have given to be food unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

³ They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

⁴ We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us.

⁵ How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

⁶ ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name.

⁷ For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.

⁸ O remember not against us former iniquities; let thy tender mercies speedily meet us on the way, for we are very poor.

⁹ Help us, O God, our saving health, for the honor of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

¹⁰ Why should the Gentiles say, Where is their God? let him be known among the Gentiles in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy slaves which is shed.

¹¹ Let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve those that are appointed to die

¹² and render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached thee, O Lord.

¹³ So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: from generation to generation we will sing thy praises.

⁶ In that day, saith the LORD, I will assemble her that is lame, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted,

⁷ and I will make her that is lame to be heirs, and her that was cast off a strong nation, and the LORD shall reign over them in the mount of Zion from now, and for evermore.

⁸ ¶ And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion shall come unto thee; and the dominion shall come first, the kingdom, to the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹ Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

¹⁰ Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now thou shalt go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

¹¹ But now many nations are gathered against thee that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eyes see our desire carried out upon Zion.

¹² But they did not know the thoughts of the LORD, neither did they understand his counsel by which he gathered them as sheaves onto the threshing floor.

¹³ Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs bronze; and thou shalt break in pieces many peoples; and thou shalt consecrate their spoil unto the LORD and their riches unto the Lord of the whole earth.

18 ¶ And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.

² And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

³ For all the Gentiles 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 are waxed rich through the power of her delicacies.

⁴ And I heard another voice from the heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye not be partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

⁵ For her sins have reached unto the heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

⁶ Reward her even as she rewarded you and pay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has given thee to drink, give her double.

⁷ As much as she has glorified herself and lived deliciously, give her that much torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

⁸ Therefore, shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

⁹ ¶ And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

¹⁰ Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city; for in one hour is thy judgment come!