Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

14 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt.
They do abominable deeds.
There is none who does good.
² Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind
to see whether there is one who has insight,
one who cares about God.
³ All have gone astray;
they are altogether corrupt.
There is not one who does good;
there is not even one.
⁴ All who do evil—do they not know,
they who eat my people as though they were eating bread?
They do not call on Yahweh.
⁵ There they are very fearful^[b]
because God is with the generation of the righteous.
⁶ You would put to shame the plan of the poor,
because^[c] Yahweh is his refuge.
⁷ Oh that from Zion^[d] would come salvation for Israel!
When Yahweh returns the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be happy.

¹³ Look, he comes up like the clouds,
    and his chariots are like the whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles,
    woe to us, for we are devastated.
¹⁴ Cleanse your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem,
    so that you may be saved.
How long^[a] will your thoughts of mischief
    dwell in your inner part?
¹⁵ For a voice is declaring from Dan,
    and is proclaiming disaster from the mountain of Ephraim.
¹⁶ “Report to the nations, ‘Here they are!’
    Proclaim against Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers are coming from a distant land,^[b]
    and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.’
¹⁷ Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around,
    because she has rebelled against me,” declares^[c] Yahweh.
¹⁸ “You obtained this for yourself
    because of your way and your deeds.
This is your doom, for it is bitter,
    yes, it has reached up to your heart.”
¹⁹ My bowels, my bowels! I writhe!
    The walls of my heart!
My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent,
    for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war.
²⁰ Destruction on destruction is proclaimed,
    for all of the land is devastated.
Suddenly my tents are devastated,
    my tent curtains in a moment.
²¹ How long must I see the banner,
    and hear the sound of a horn?

²⁹ From the sound of a horseman and an archer^[a] every town flees,
    they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb.
Every town is forsaken,
    and there is no person who lives in them.
³⁰ And you, O devastated one, what do you do,
    that you put on crimson,
that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
    that you make your eyes look bigger with the eye make-up?
In vain you beautify yourself.
    Your lovers reject you;
    they seek your life.
³¹ For I heard a voice like an ill woman,
    anxiety like a woman who bears her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion.
    She is gasping for breath,
    she is spreading out her hands:
“Woe is me, for I am becoming tired^[b] before killers.”