Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 You dug up a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.(A)
9 You cleared a place for it;
it took root and filled the land.(B)
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
and the mighty cedars[a] with its branches.(C)
11 It sent out sprouts toward the Sea[b]
and shoots toward the River.[c](D)
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?(E)
13 Boars from the forest tear at it
and creatures of the field feed on it.(F)
14 Return, God of Armies.(G)
Look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,
15 the root[d] your right hand planted,
the son[e] that you made strong for yourself.(H)
16 It was cut down and burned;
they[f] perish at the rebuke of your countenance.(I)
17 Let your hand be with the man at your right hand,
with the son of man
you have made strong for yourself.(J)
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.(K)
19 Restore us, Lord, God of Armies;(L)
make your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.(M)
Judah’s Leaders Judged
3 Note this: The Lord God of Armies
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,
2 heroes and warriors,(A)
judges and prophets,
fortune-tellers and elders,
3 commanders of fifty and dignitaries,
counselors, cunning magicians,[a] and necromancers.[b]
4 “I will make youths their leaders,(B)
and unstable rulers[c] will govern them.”
5 The people will oppress one another,(C)
man against man, neighbor against neighbor;
the young will act arrogantly toward the old,
and the worthless toward the honorable.
6 A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
7 On that day he will cry out, saying,
“I’m not a healer.
I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.
Don’t make me the leader of the people!”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled
and Judah has fallen
because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,(D)
defying his glorious presence.(E)
9 The look on their faces testifies against them,
and like Sodom,(F) they flaunt their sin;
they do not conceal it.
Woe to them,
for they have brought disaster on themselves.(G)
10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,
for they will eat the fruit of their labor.
11 Woe to the wicked—it will go badly for them,
for what they have done will be done to them.
12 Youths oppress my people,(H)
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you;
they confuse the direction of your paths.(I)
13 The Lord rises to argue the case
and stands to judge the people.(J)
14 The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of his people:(K)
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.(L)
15 Why do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?”
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
Jerusalem’s Women Judged
16 The Lord also says:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,(M)
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
prancing along,
jingling their ankle bracelets,
17 the Lord will put scabs on the heads
of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.
32 Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.(A) 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.(B) 34 For you sympathized with the prisoners[a] and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.[b](C) 35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.(D) 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.(E)
37 For yet in a very little while,
the Coming One will come and not delay.
38 But my righteous one[c] will live by faith;
and if he draws back,
I have no pleasure[d] in him.[e](F)
39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.
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