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!

²⁴ Therefore, ^(A)as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so ^(B)their root will be ^(C)as rottenness,
    and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have ^(D)rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
    and have ^(E)despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵ Therefore ^(F)the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
    and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
    and ^(G)the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were ^(H)as refuse
    in the midst of the streets.
^(I)For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.

²⁶ He will ^(J)raise a signal for nations far away,
    and ^(K)whistle for them ^(L)from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
^27 (M)None is weary, none stumbles,
    none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
    not a sandal strap broken;
^28 (N)their arrows are sharp,
    all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
    and their wheels ^(O)like the whirlwind.
²⁹ Their roaring is like a lion,
    like young lions they roar;
they growl and ^(P)seize their prey;
    they carry it off, and none can rescue.
³⁰ They will growl over it on that day,
    like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
    behold, ^(Q)darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.

^49 (M)“‘Heaven is my throne,
    ^(N)and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
⁵⁰ Did not my hand make all these things?’