Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ A wicked and foolish man truly believes there is no God.
    They are vile, their sinfulness nauseating to their Creator;
    their actions are soiled and repulsive; every deed is depraved;
    not one of them does good.

² The Eternal leans over from heaven to survey the sons of Adam.
    No one is missed, and no one can hide.
    He searches to see who understands true wisdom,
    who desires to know the True God.

³ They all turn their backs, walking their own roads;
    they are rancid, leaving a trail of rotten footsteps behind them;
    not one of them does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Do the wicked have no clue about what really matters?
    They devour my brothers and sisters the way a man eats his dinner.
    They ignore the Eternal and don’t call on Him, rejecting His reality and truth.

⁵ They shall secretly tremble behind closed doors, hearts beating hard within their chests,
    knowing that God always avenges the upright.
⁶ You laugh at the counsel of the poor, the needy, the troubled who put their trust in God.
    You try to take away their only hope,
    but the Eternal is a strong shelter in the heaviest storm.
⁷ May a new day, a day of deliverance come for Israel, starting with Zion.
    When the Eternal breaks the chains of His oppressed people,
    the family of Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be delighted.

¹³ Look, you can see Him coming in the distance, like a cloud on the horizon.
    Like a whirlwind, His chariots of destruction will descend on you.
Swifter than eagles are His horses. At the sight of this, you will cry out, “Alas, we are doomed!”

¹⁴ Hear me, O Jerusalem, for even now there is time.
    Wash these wicked ways from your hearts
So that you can be saved.
    How long will you cling to those wicked thoughts?
¹⁵ From the tribe of Dan in the north comes the first cry;
    news of disaster arrives from the hill country of Ephraim.

¹⁶ Eternal One (to Jeremiah): Tell the nations to beware.
        Announce to Jerusalem:
    “Invaders are coming from a distant land.
        Their war cries will soon be heard in Judah’s villages.”
¹⁷     They will spread out and surround Jerusalem on every side like guards in a field,
        all because she has acted against Me.

¹⁸     (to the people) You chose this path that led to disaster.
        Your plans and actions brought it on.
    It is your wickedness that tastes so bitter,
        your evil that pierces your heart.

¹⁹ I’ve got this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m in agony.
    Every beat of my heart pounds with an awful dread.
I can’t stay silent, for I know what is coming—
    oh my soul, there it is: the blast of the trumpet;
The battle cries of the invading hoards.
²⁰ Crushing defeat after crushing defeat. That’s the news.
    The land is in ruins, all of it.
In an instant, my world changed;
    in a moment, my tents destroyed, my curtains torn, my refuge gone.
²¹ How long must I see the flags of the enemy?
    How long must I be forced to hear the trumpets sound?

²⁹ As the horseman thunders closer and the archer draws near,
    the people panic and the cities empty.
They scatter to the bushes; they scramble to the hills.
    The villages are abandoned, for no one dares remain.
³⁰ So what are you doing, my ravaged one?
    Why are you dressing up in scarlet, putting on your gold jewelry,
And painting your eyes to make them larger, more beautiful?
    You’re wasting your time.
Your lovers want nothing to do with you.
    In fact, they despise you, and are looking to kill you.

³¹ I hear a cry like a woman in labor, the distress of a first-time mother.
    It is the anguish of my people; it is the voice of the daughter of Zion,
Gasping for breath, reaching for help, as she cries out,
    “I am faint, and my life is in the hands of murderers!”