Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Psalm of Asaph
A Prayer for Jerusalem
79 God, nations have invaded your land[a]
to desecrate your holy Temple,
to destroy Jerusalem,
2 to give the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the skies
and the flesh of your godly ones
to the beasts of the earth;
3 to make their blood flow like water around Jerusalem,
with no one being buried.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a mockery and a derision to those around us.
5 How long, Lord, will you be angry? Forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath upon the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
and over the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.
7 For they consumed Jacob,
making his dwelling place desolate.
8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “the bones of the king of Judah, the bones of his officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. 2 They’ll be spread out to the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the heavens, which they loved and served,[a] and which they followed, consulted, and worshipped. Their bones[b] won’t be collected, nor will they be buried. They’ll be like dung on the surface of the ground.
3 “In all the places where the people[c] remain, where I’ve banished them, death will be chosen over life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family,” declares the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
A Stubborn People
4 “You are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Will a person fall down and then not get up?
Will someone turn away[d] and then not turn back again?[e]
5 Why has this people turned away?[f]
Why does Jerusalem continue in apostasy?
They hold on to deceit and refuse to repent.
6 I’ve listened and I’ve heard,
and what they say is not right.
No one repents of his evil and says,
‘What have I done?’
“They all turn to their own course
like a horse racing into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky knows its seasons,
and the dove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time for migration.
But my people don’t know
the requirements[g] of the Lord.
8 How can you say, ‘We’re wise,
and the Law of the Lord is with us,’
when, in fact, the deceitful pen of the scribe has made it
into something that deceives.
9 The wise men will be put to shame.
They’ll be dismayed and taken captive.
Look, they have rejected the message from the Lord!
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore, I’ll give their wives to others,
and their fields to new owners.
Indeed, from the least important to the most important,
they’re all greedy for dishonest gain.
From prophet to priest,
they all act deceitfully.
11 They have treated my people’s[h] wound
superficially, telling them, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Are they ashamed because they have done
what is repugnant to God?[i]
They weren’t ashamed at all;
they don’t even know how to blush!
Therefore they’ll fall with those who fall.
When I punish them, they’ll be brought down,”
says the Lord.
13 “I would have gathered them,”
declares the Lord,
“but there were no grapes on the vine,
and no figs on the fig tree,
and their leaves were withered.
What I’ve given them has been taken away.”’”
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice[a] for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son,[b] won’t he? 33 Who will accuse God’s elect? It is God who justifies! 34 Who is the one to condemn? It is the Messiah[c] Jesus who is interceding on our behalf. He died, and more importantly, has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God.
35 Who will separate us from the Messiah’s[d] love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death[e] do this?[f] 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being put to death all day long.
We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter.”[g]
37 In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours[h] in union with the Messiah[i] Jesus, our Lord.
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