Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for the Nation

74 O God, why have You turned away from us forever? Why does Your anger burn against the sheep in Your fields? ² Remember Your people that You bought a long time ago. You made them free to be the family of Your promise, and Mount Zion, where You have lived. ³ Turn Your steps toward this place that has been destroyed forever. Those who hate You have destroyed all that is in the holy place. ⁴ Those who hate You have called out in the center of Your meeting place. They have set up their flags to show that they have won. ⁵ They acted like men taking up axes against a group of trees. ⁶ All of its fine work has been broken with axes and sticks. ⁷ They have burned Your holy place to the dust. They have made dirty the house of Your name. ⁸ They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy all of these places!” They have burned all the meeting places where God was worshiped in the land. ⁹ We do not see any special things happening. There is no longer anyone who speaks for God. And none of us knows how long this will be. ¹⁰ O God, how long will those who hate You laugh at the truth? Will they speak against Your name forever? ¹¹ Why do You take Your hand away, even Your right hand? Put it out and destroy them!

¹² God is still my King from long ago. He does saving works upon the earth. ¹³ You divided the sea by Your power. You broke the heads of the large dragons in the waters. ¹⁴ You crushed the heads of the Leviathan. And You fed him to the animals of the desert. ¹⁵ It was You Who opened up the earth for water to flow out. And You dried up rivers that flow forever. ¹⁶ The day is Yours. And the night is Yours. You have set the light and the sun in their places. ¹⁷ You have divided all the lands and seas and nations of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how those who hate You have laughed at the truth, O Lord. Foolish people have spoken against Your name. ¹⁹ Do not give the life of Your dove over to the wild animal. Do not forget the lives of Your troubled people forever. ²⁰ Think about Your agreement. For the dark places of the land are full of fighting. ²¹ Do not let those who suffer under a bad power return without honor. Let those who suffer and those who are in need praise Your name.

²² Rise up, O God. Stand up for Your rights. Remember how the foolish man speaks against You all day long. ²³ Do not forget the voice of those who hate You, the noise that comes without stopping from those who rise against You.

It Is Bad for the Sinful

⁸ It is bad for those who join house to house and field to field until there is no empty space, and you have to live alone in the land. ⁹ The Lord of All has sworn in my ears, “For sure, many houses will be laid waste. Large and beautiful houses will be empty. ¹⁰ For ten fields of vines will give only eleven large bottles of wine. And 110 jars of seed will give only eleven jars of grain.” ¹¹ It is bad for those who get up early in the morning to run after strong drink! It is bad for those who stay up late in the evening that they may get drunk! ¹² They have harps, a noise-maker, a horn, and wine at their special suppers. But they do not think about the works of the Lord. They do not think of the work of His hands.

¹³ So My people are taken away to strange lands because they have not been wise. Their men of honor are dying because they are hungry. Their people are dried up because they are thirsty. ¹⁴ So the grave has become larger and has opened its mouth wide. And Jerusalem’s greatness, her people, her sounds of wild joy, and those who are happy with sin go down into it. ¹⁵ Man’s pride will be taken away. Important men will be put to shame. The eyes of the proud also will be put to shame. ¹⁶ But the Lord of All will be honored in what is right and fair. The holy God will show Himself holy in what is right and good. ¹⁷ Then the lambs will eat as in their field. And strangers will eat in the waste places of the rich.

¹⁸ It is bad for those who pull sin along with ropes of lies, who pull wrong-doing as with a wagon rope, ¹⁹ who say, “Let Him hurry. Let Him be quick to do His work, that we may see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel be done, that we may know it!” ²⁰ It is bad for those who call what is sinful good, and good sinful, who say dark is light and light is dark, who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter! ²¹ It is bad for those who are wise in their own eyes, and who think they know a lot! ²² It is bad for those who are good at drinking wine, and are proud as they mix strong drink! ²³ They take money in secret for saying that bad people are good. And they take away the rights of those who are not guilty.

The Spirits Must Be Tested

4 Dear Christian friends, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God for there are many false preachers in the world. ² You can tell if the spirit is from God in this way: Every spirit that says Jesus Christ has come in a human body is from God. ³ And every spirit that does not say Jesus has come in a human body is not from God. It is the teaching of the false-christ. You have heard that this teaching is coming. It is already here in the world. ⁴ My children, you are a part of God’s family. You have stood against these false preachers and had power over them. You had power over them because the One Who lives in you is stronger than the one who is in the world. ⁵ Those false teachers are a part of the world. They speak about the things of the world. The world listens to them. ⁶ We are a part of God’s family. The person who knows God will listen to us. The person who is not a part of God’s family will not listen to us. In this way, we can tell what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of false teaching.