Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Your foes have ^(K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
    ^(L)they set up their ^(M)own signs for ^(N)signs.
⁵ They were like those who swing ^(O)axes
    in a forest of trees.^[b]
6 And all its ^(P)carved wood
    they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They ^(Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
    they ^(R)profaned ^(S)the dwelling place of your name,
    bringing it down to the ground.
⁸ They ^(T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
    they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹ We do not see our ^(U)signs;
    ^(V)there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, ^(W)is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why ^(X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the fold of your garment^[c] and destroy them!

¹² Yet ^(Y)God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You ^(Z)divided the sea by your might;
    you ^(AA)broke the heads of ^(AB)the sea monsters^[d] on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of ^(AC)Leviathan;
    you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You ^(AD)split open springs and brooks;
    you ^(AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you have established ^(AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have ^(AG)fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
    you have made ^(AH)summer and winter.

^18 (AI)Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
    and ^(AJ)a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of your ^(AK)dove to the wild beasts;
    ^(AL)do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰ Have regard for ^(AM)the covenant,
    for ^(AN)the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not ^(AO)the downtrodden ^(AP)turn back in shame;
    let ^(AQ)the poor and needy praise your name.

²² Arise, O God, ^(AR)defend your cause;
    ^(AS)remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
    ^(AT)the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

¹¹ Woe to those who ^(E)rise early in the morning,
    that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
    as wine inflames them!
^12 (F)They have lyre and harp,
    tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
^(G)but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
    or see the work of his hands.

¹³ Therefore my people go into exile
    ^(H)for lack of knowledge;^[c]
their ^(I)honored men go hungry,^[d]
    and their multitude is parched with thirst.
¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has ^(J)enlarged its appetite
    and opened ^(K)its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem^[e] and her multitude will go down,
    her revelers and he who ^(L)exults in her.
^15 (M)Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
    and the eyes of the haughty^[f] are brought low.
^16 (N)But the Lord of hosts is exalted^[g] in justice,
    and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
¹⁷ Then shall the lambs graze ^(O)as in their pasture,
    and ^(P)nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Woe to those who draw iniquity with ^(Q)cords of falsehood,
    who draw sin as with cart ropes,
¹⁹ who say: ^(R)“Let him be quick,
    let him speed his work
    that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
    and let it come, that we may know it!”
²⁰ Woe to ^(S)those who call evil good
    and good evil,
^(T)who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!
²¹ Woe to those who are ^(U)wise in their own eyes,
    and shrewd in their own sight!
²² Woe to those who are ^(V)heroes at drinking wine,
    and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
²³ who ^(W)acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    and deprive the innocent of his right!