Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
For the Director of Music: According to “The Lilies”. A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.
A Prayer for Jerusalem
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen!
The one who leads Joseph like a flock,
the one enthroned on the cherubim,
display your glory.[a]
2 Reveal[b] your power before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
then come to our rescue.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt,
and drove out nations to transplant it.
9 You cleared the ground[a] so that its roots grew
and filled the land.
10 Mountains were covered by its shadows,
and the mighty cedars by its branches.
11 Its branches spread out to the Mediterranean[b] Sea
and its shoots to the Euphrates[c] River.
12 Why did you break down its walls
so that those who pass by pluck its fruits?[d]
13 Wild boars of the forest gnaw at it,
and creatures of the field feed on it.
14 God of the Heavenly Armies, return!
Look down from heaven and see.
Show care[e] toward this vine.
15 The root[f] that your right hand planted,
the shoot[g] that you tended for yourself,
16 was burned with fire, cut off,
and destroyed on account of your rebuke.
17 May you support the man at your right hand;
the son of man whom you have raised for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Restore us, so we can call upon your name.
19 God of hosts, restore to us the light of your favor.[h]
Then we’ll be delivered.
Judgment Comes to Judah’s Leaders
3 “Note this! The Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah
everything that your society needs—[a]
all food supplies
and all water supplies,
2 the mighty man
and the warrior,
the judge
and the prophet,
the fortune-teller
and the elder,
3 the commander of fifty
and the man of rank,
and the counselor, the expert magician,
and the medium.
4 “I will make youths their princes,
and infants will rule over them.
5 People will oppress one another—
It will be man against man
and neighbor against neighbor.
The young will be disrespectful to the old,
and the worthless to the honorable.
6 “For a man will grab his brother
in his own father’s house,
and say, ‘You have a cloak,
so you be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
will be under your rule!’
7 “But[b] at that time,[c] he’ll protest![d]
He’ll say, ‘I won’t be your healer.
I have neither food nor clothing in my house!
You’re not going to make me a leader of the people!’
8 “For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because what they say and do opposes[e] the Lord;
they keep defying him.[f]
9 “The expressions on their faces give them away.[g]
They parade their sin around like Sodom;
they don’t even try to[h] hide it.
How horrible it will be for them,
because they have brought disaster on themselves!”
Encouragement to the Righteous
10 “Tell[i] the righteous that things will go well,
because they will enjoy[j] the fruit of their actions.”
Warning to the Wicked
11 “How terrible it will be for the wicked!
Disaster is headed their way,
because what they did with their hand[k] will be repaid[l] to them.
12 “As for my people, children[m] are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders are misleading you—
they’re giving you confusing directions.”[n]
When God Goes to Court
13 The Lord is taking his place to argue his case;
he’s standing up to judge the people.
14 The Lord will go to court[o]
to oppose[p] the elders and princes of his people:
“You’re the ones who have been devouring the vineyard,
the plunder of the poor is in your own houses!
15 How dare you crush[q] my people
as you grind down the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.[r]
Judgment of Jerusalem’s Women
16 The Lord also says:
“Because Zion’s women are so haughty,
and walk with outstretched necks,
flirting with their eyes,
prancing[s] along as they walk,
and making tinkling noises with their ankle bracelets,[t]
17 therefore the Lord[u] will afflict sores
on the heads of Zion’s women,
and the Lord[v] will expose their private parts.
32 But you must continue to remember those earlier days, how after you were enlightened you endured a hard and painful struggle. 33 At times you were made a public spectacle by means of insults and persecutions, while at other times you associated with people who were treated this way. 34 For you sympathized[a] with the prisoners and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, because you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.
35 So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised. 37 For
“in a very little while
the one who is coming will return—
he will not delay;
38 but my righteous one will live by faith,
and if he turns back,
my soul will take no pleasure in him.”[b]
39 Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.