Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 79
Faith amid Confusion
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance,
desecrated Your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.(B)
2 They gave the corpses of Your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of Your godly ones
to the beasts of the earth.(C)
3 They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(D)
4 We have become an object of reproach
to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule
to those around us.(E)
5 How long, Yahweh? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy keep burning like fire?(F)
6 Pour out Your wrath on the nations
that don’t acknowledge You,
on the kingdoms that don’t call on Your name,(G)
7 for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.(H)
8 Do not hold past sins[a] against us;
let Your compassion come to us quickly,
for we have become weak.(I)
God’s People Unrepentant
14 Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities
and perish there,[a]
for the Lord our God has destroyed[b] us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,(A)
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.(B)
16 From Dan the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,(C)
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17 Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers(D) that cannot be charmed.(E)
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
2 [a]If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,(A)
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.(B)
3 They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take Me into account.(C)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,
and every friend spread slander.(D)
5 Each one betrays his friend;
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 You live in a world of deception.[b]
In their deception they refuse to know Me.(E)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:
I am about to refine them and test them,(F)
for what else can I do
because of My dear[c] people?[d]
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows—
they speak deception.(G)
With his mouth
a man speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself(H)
on such a nation as this?
10 I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,(I)
everything has fled—they have gone away.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,(J)
a jackals’ den.(K)
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
The Widow’s Gift
41 Sitting(A) across from the temple treasury,(B) He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich(C) people were putting in large sums. 42 And a poor(D) widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little.[a] 43 Summoning His disciples,(E) He said to them, “I assure you:(F) This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury.(G) 44 For they all gave out of their surplus,(H) but she out of her poverty(I) has put in everything she possessed(J)—all she had to live on.”(K)
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