Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

[pause]^[a]

³ True blessings You lavished upon the king;
    a crown of precious gold You placed upon his head.
⁴ His prayer was to live fully. You responded with even more—
    a never-ending life to enjoy.
⁵ With Your help, his fame and glory have grown;
    You raise him high and cover him in majesty.
⁶ You shower him with blessings that last forever;
    he finds joy in knowing Your presence and loving You.
⁷ For the king puts his trust in the Eternal,
    so he will not be shaken
    because of the persistent love of the Most High God.

⁸ King, your hand will reach for all your enemies;
    your right hand will seize all who hate you.
⁹ When you arrive at the battle’s edge,
    you will seem to them a furnace.
For the fire of the Eternal’s anger, the heat of His wrath
    will burn and consume them.
¹⁰ You will cut off their children,
    lop off the branches of their family tree.
The earth will never know them,
    nor will they ever be numbered among Adam’s kin.
¹¹ When they scheme against you,
    when they conspire their mischief, such efforts will be in vain.
¹² At the sight of you, they will sound the retreat;
    your bows, drawn back, will aim directly at their faces.

¹³ Put Your strength, Eternal One, on display for all to see;
    we will sing and make music of Your mighty power.

24 See here, the Eternal One will empty the earth.
    He will lay it waste, contort the mountains and plains,
And scatter its inhabitants all over the place.
² Things will be topsy-turvy, hierarchies upended. No one will be safe,
    not laypeople or priests, not servants or masters,
    not maids or mistresses, not buyers or sellers,
    not lenders or borrowers, not debtors or creditors.
³ The earth will be emptied, all emptied, despoiled, utterly despoiled.
    The Eternal said that it should be so.

⁴ So the earth mourns, droops wearily down;
    the world languishes and droops; the high and mighty languish in grief.
⁵ The earth is polluted by those who live on it;
    they pay no attention to God’s teaching.
    They violate His directives and break the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Consequently, a nasty curse consumes the earth,
    and those who inhabit it are to blame for it.
They’ll be burned up,
    leaving very few people to survive.
⁷ Luscious wine grapes shrivel to nothing.
    The vines rot, and everyone who had taken
    joy from their nectar sighs in deep depression.
⁸ No more music, no more songs, no more dancing to tambourines,
    laughing with revelers, or playing the harps.
⁹ People don’t drink wine and sing with pleasure anymore;
    the stronger stuff is mostly bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The chaotic city is in shambles,
    and every house is boarded up so no one can go in.
¹¹ People rebel in the streets, demanding wine.
    All joy turns to gloom; happiness has been banished from the land.
¹² In the city nothing is left but desolation,
    and the gate is battered and ruined.

¹³ This is how it will be on the earth for the nations—
    only a few survivors will be left—
    as when an olive tree is shaken and a few olives hold on
    or when the grape harvest is in and a few grapes remain for gleaning.

¹⁴ But people will take joy again.
    They will shout out and sing
    of the Eternal One’s majesty across the ocean.
¹⁵ Join in the song and praise the Eternal from the east.
    Praise the Eternal, the God of Israel, all along the coast of the sea.

¹⁶ Listen and you can hear the merry voices from the corners of the earth
    singing, “Honor to the Righteous One.” But as for me,
I say, “I am wasting away, wasting away.
    Woe is me!
I can see treachery, treachery, and it wears me down.
    Traitors deal in treachery.”