Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ Turn Your ear toward us, Shepherd of Israel,
    You who lead the children of Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned above heaven’s winged creatures,^[b]
    radiate Your light!
² In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
    arouse Your strength and power,
    and save us!

³ Bring us back to You, God.
    Turn the light of Your face upon us so that we will be rescued from this sea of darkness.

⁴ O Eternal God, Commander of heaven’s armies,
    how long will You remain angry at the prayers of Your sons and daughters?
⁵ You have given them tears for food;
    You have given them an abundance of tears to drink.
⁶ You have made us a source of trouble for our neighbors—
    our enemies laugh to each other behind our backs.
⁷ O God, Commander of heaven’s armies, bring us back to You.
    Turn the light of Your face upon us so that we will be rescued from this sea of darkness.

⁸ You took us like a grapevine dug from the soil of Egypt;
    You forced out the nations and transplanted it in Your land.
⁹ You groomed the ground around it,
    planted it so it would root deep into the earth, and it covered all the land.
¹⁰ As it grew, the mountains were blanketed by its shadow;
    the mighty cedars were covered by its branches.
¹¹ The plant extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea,
    and spread its shoots all the way to the Euphrates River.
¹² God, why have You pulled down the wall that protected it
    so that everyone who wanders by can pick its sweet grapes?
¹³ The wild boar of the forest eats it all,
    and the creatures of the field feast upon it.

¹⁴ O God, Commander of heaven’s armies, come back to us.
    Gaze down from heaven and see what has happened.
Keep watch over this vine, and nourish it.
¹⁵ Look after the saplings which You planted with Your own right hand,
    the child whom You have raised and nurtured for Yourself.
¹⁶ Your enemies have chopped it down and burned it with fire;
    may they be destroyed by the sight of Your rebuke.
¹⁷ Let Your protective hand rest on the one who is at Your right hand,
    the child of man whom You have raised and nurtured for Yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from You.
    Bring us back to life! And we will call out for You!

¹⁹ O Eternal God, Commander of heaven’s armies, bring us back to You.
    Turn the light of Your face upon us so that we will be rescued from this sea of darkness.

5 Let me now sing for my dear friend,
    a love song about his vineyard.
My friend, whom I dearly love,
    had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
² He labored to prepare the ground, tilling the soil and digging out rocks,
    and then he planted it with the best plants he could find.
In its midst, he built a watchtower over it
    and cut out a winepress in the hill nearby;
Then he waited, hoping it would be bountiful.
    But the vineyard produced only wild, bitter grapes.

³ Eternal One: That’s it. Enough. Now, you who live in My special city, Jerusalem,
        you people of this choice country, Judah,
    Who’s in the right—Me or My vineyard?
⁴     What else could I possibly have done to make it flourish?
        Why, when I had every reason to expect great beauty and bushels of grapes,
    Did it yield only wild, bitter fruit?

⁵     I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,
        what I’ve determined to do to My vineyard:
    I’m going to take away its protective fence
        and let the deer, raccoons, and rabbits devour it.
    I’ll break down its wall,
        let the vines be eaten and trampled.
⁶     I will set it up for destruction—
        do no pruning, no tilling—
    And it will be overrun with nasty briars and thornbushes.
        I will even order the clouds not to water it.

⁷ See here, the vineyard of the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies,
    is the house of Israel, His special people.
And the shoots and buds He nursed so lovingly along
    are the people of this choice country, Judah.
He expected a paragon of justice and righteousness—
    but everywhere injustice runs bloodred in the streets, and cries echo in the city!