Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all people.
He wants to see if there are any who understand.
    He wants to see if there are any who trust in God.
³ All of them have turned away.
    They have all become evil.
No one does anything good,
    no one at all.

⁴ Do all these people who do evil know nothing?
    They eat up my people as if they were eating bread.
    They never call out to the Lord.
⁵ But just look at them! They are filled with terror
    because God is among those who do right.
⁶ You who do evil keep poor people from succeeding.
    But the Lord is their place of safety.

⁷ How I pray that the God who saves Israel will come out of Zion!
    Then the Lord will bless his people with great success again.
    So let the people of Jacob be filled with joy! Let Israel be glad!

¹³ Look! Our enemies are approaching like the clouds.
    Their chariots are coming like a strong wind.
Their horses are faster than eagles.
    How terrible it will be for us!
    We’ll be destroyed!
¹⁴ People of Jerusalem, wash your sins from your hearts and be saved.
    How long will you hold on to your evil thoughts?
¹⁵ A voice is speaking all the way from the city of Dan.
    From the hills of Ephraim it announces
    that trouble is coming.
¹⁶ “Tell the nations.
    Make an announcement concerning Jerusalem.
Say, ‘An army will attack Judah.
    It is coming from a land far away.
It will shout a war cry
    against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷ It will surround them like people who guard a field.
    Judah has refused to obey me,’ ”
    announces the Lord.
¹⁸ “The army will attack you
    because of your conduct and actions.
This is how you will be punished.
    It will be so bitter!
    It will cut deep down into your hearts!”

¹⁹ I’m suffering! I’m really suffering!
    I’m hurting badly.
My heart is suffering so much!
    It’s pounding inside me.
    I can’t keep silent.
I’ve heard the sound of trumpets.
    I’ve heard the battle cry.
²⁰ One trouble follows another.
    The whole land is destroyed.
In an instant my tents are gone.
    My home disappears in a moment.
²¹ How long must I look at our enemy’s battle flag?
    How long must I hear the sound of the trumpets?

²⁹ People can hear the sound of horsemen.
    Men armed with bows are coming.
    The people in every town run away.
Some of them go into the bushes.
    Others climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are deserted.
    No one is living in them.

³⁰ What are you doing, you who are destroyed?
    Why do you dress yourself in bright red clothes?
    Why do you put on jewels of gold?
Why do you put makeup on your eyes?
    You make yourself beautiful for no reason at all.
Your lovers hate you.
    They want to kill you.

³¹ I hear a cry like the cry of a woman having a baby.
    I hear a groan like someone having her first child.
It’s the cry of the people of Zion struggling to breathe.
    They reach out their hands and say,
“Help us! We’re fainting!
    Murderers are about to kill us!”