Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹⁴ Thus says the Lord concerning all My ^(A)wicked neighbors who ^(B)strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will ^(C)uproot the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will ^(D)again have compassion on them; and I will ^(E)bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. ¹⁶ Then if they will really ^(F)learn the ways of My people, to ^(G)swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught My people to ^(H)swear by Baal, they will be ^(I)built up in the midst of My people. ¹⁷ But if they will not listen, then I will ^(J)uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

The Ruined Waistband

13 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and ^(K)buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ² So I bought the waistband in accordance with the ^(L)word of the Lord and put it around my waist. ³ Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to ^[a]the ^(M)Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, ^(N)as the Lord had commanded me. ⁶ After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just so will I destroy the ^(O)pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This wicked people, who ^(P)refuse to listen to My words, who ^(Q)walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. ¹¹ For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah ^(R)cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for ^[b](S)renown, for ^(T)praise and for glory; but they ^(U)did not listen.’

All the World Guilty

3 Then what ^[a]advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ² Great in every respect. First of all, that ^(A)they were entrusted with the ^(B)oracles of God. ³ What then? If ^(C)some ^[b]did not believe, their ^[c]unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ^4 (D)May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found ^(E)a liar, as it is written,

⁵ But if our unrighteousness ^[e](G)demonstrates the righteousness of God, ^(H)what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (^(I)I am speaking in human terms.) ^6 (J)May it never be! For otherwise, how will ^(K)God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie ^(L)the truth of God abounded to His glory, ^(M)why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “^(N)Let us do evil that good may come”? ^[f]Their condemnation is just.