Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of Asaph.

79 O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

² The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowl of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth:

³ Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury [them].

⁴ We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision to them that are round about us.

⁵ How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

⁶ Pour out thy fury upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name:

⁷ For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his habitation.

⁸ Remember not against us the iniquities of [our] forefathers; let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us: for we are brought very low.

⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, because of the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake.

¹⁰ Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants that is shed be known among the nations in our sight.

¹¹ Let the groaning of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thine arm, preserve those that are appointed to die;

¹² And render unto our neighbours, sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

¹³ And we, thy people and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks unto thee for ever; we will shew forth thy praise from generation to generation.

⁶ In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;

⁷ and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and Jehovah shall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever.

⁸ And thou, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, yea, the first dominion shall come,—the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹ Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished, that pangs have seized thee as a woman in travail?

¹⁰ Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon: there shalt thou be delivered; there Jehovah will redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

¹¹ And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be profaned, and let our eye look upon Zion.

¹² But they know not the thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand they his counsel; for he hath gathered them together as the sheaves into the threshing-floor.

¹³ Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples; and I will devote their gain to Jehovah, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

18 After these things I saw another angel descending out of the heaven, having great authority: and the earth was lightened with his glory.

² And he cried with a strong voice, saying, Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and has become the habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird;

³ because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have been enriched through the might of her luxury.

⁴ And I heard another voice out of the heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins, and that ye do not receive of her plagues:

⁵ for her sins have been heaped on one another up to the heaven, and God has remembered her unrighteousnesses.

⁶ Recompense her even as she has recompensed; and double [to her] double, according to her works. In the cup which she has mixed, mix to her double.

⁷ So much as she has glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much torment and grief give to her. Because she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and I am not a widow; and I shall in no wise see grief:

⁸ for this reason in one day shall her plagues come, death and grief and famine, and she shall be burnt with fire; for strong [is the] Lord God who has judged her.

⁹ And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication, and lived luxuriously with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they see the smoke of her burning,

¹⁰ standing afar off, through fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour thy judgment is come.