Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 79
They Have Reduced Jerusalem to Rubble
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.
The Destruction and the Disgrace
1 God, the nations have invaded your possession.
They have profaned your holy temple.
They have reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins.
2 They have left the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the sky.
They have given the flesh of your favored ones to the wild animals.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all over Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
4 We are subjected to contempt by our neighbors,
to mockery and ridicule by those around us.
The Prayer for Justice
5 How long, O Lord? Will you stay angry forever?
How long will your jealous anger burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that do not call on your name,
7 because they have devoured Jacob,
and they have destroyed his pastureland.[a]
8 Do not charge the guilt of our fathers against us.
Hurry, let your compassion come to meet us,
for we are very weak.
9 God, who saves us, help us for the glory of your name.
Deliver us and make atonement for our sins for your name’s sake.
The People React
14 Why are we just sitting here?
Let’s get together!
Let us go into the fortified cities and die there.
The Lord our God has condemned us to die
by giving us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against him.
15 We hoped for peace,
but no good came.
We hoped for a time of healing,
but there is only terror.
16 The snorting of horses is heard from Dan.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty stallions,
the whole land trembles.
They have come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all who live there.
The Lord Responds
17 Look, I am sending snakes among you,
venomous snakes that cannot be charmed,
and they will bite you, declares the Lord.
2 I wish there was a lodging place for travelers
in the wilderness.
Then I would leave my people
and get away from them.
They are all adulterers,
a society of traitors.
The Lord Gives a Warning
3 They bend their tongues like bows, to deceive.
It is not by faithfulness that they prevail in the land.
They go from evil to evil,
and they do not acknowledge me,
declares the Lord.
4 Everyone should be on guard against his friend.
Do not trust any brother,
for every brother is really a deceiver,
and every friend spreads slander.
5 Everyone betrays his friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie.
They wear themselves out with sinning.
6 You, Jeremiah, live in the midst of deception!
In their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,
declares the Lord.
7 Therefore this is what the Lord of Armies says.
Watch me. I will refine them and test them.
What else can I do for my dear people?
8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows.
They speak deceitfully.
With their mouths they speak peacefully to their neighbors,
but in their hearts they set traps.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord.
Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah’s Grief
10 I will cry and sob for the mountains.
I will sing a lament for the pastures in the wilderness.
They are desolate and untraveled,
and not even the lowing of cattle is heard.
From the birds in the sky to all the animals below, everything has fled.
They are all gone.
The Lord’s Threat
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a jackals’ den,
and I am going to lay waste to the cities of Judah,
so that no one can live there.
The Poor Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down opposite the offering box and was watching how the crowd put money into it. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 One poor widow came and put in two small bronze coins,[a] worth less than a penny.[b] 43 He called his disciples together and said to them, “Amen I tell you: This poor widow put more into the offering box than all the others. 44 For they all gave out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all that she had to live on.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.