Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of Asaph.

79 O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

² The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowl of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth:

³ Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury [them].

⁴ We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision to them that are round about us.

⁵ How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

⁶ Pour out thy fury upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name:

⁷ For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his habitation.

⁸ Remember not against us the iniquities of [our] forefathers; let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us: for we are brought very low.

⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, because of the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake.

¹⁴ Thus saith Jehovah against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁵ And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them up, I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them back, each one to his inheritance, and each one to his land.

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, [As] Jehovah liveth—even as they taught my people to swear by Baal—they shall be built up in the midst of my people.

¹⁷ And if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith Jehovah.

13 Thus said Jehovah unto me: Go and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins; but dip it not in water.

² And I bought a girdle according to the word of Jehovah, and put it upon my loins.

³ And the word of Jehovah came unto me the second time, saying,

⁴ Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as Jehovah had commanded me.

⁶ And it came to pass at the end of many days, that Jehovah said unto me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence which I commanded thee to hide there.

⁷ And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and behold, the girdle was spoiled, it was good for nothing.

⁸ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

⁹ Thus saith Jehovah: After this manner will I spoil the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and go after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing.

¹¹ For as a girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith Jehovah; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

3 What then [is] the superiority of the Jew? or what the profit of circumcision?

² Much every way: and first, indeed, that to them were entrusted the oracles of God.

³ For what? if some have not believed, shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect?

⁴ Far be the thought: but let God be true, and every man false; according as it is written, So that thou shouldest be justified in thy words, and shouldest overcome when thou art in judgment.

⁵ But if our unrighteousness commend God's righteousness, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak according to man.

⁶ Far be the thought: since how shall God judge the world?

⁷ For if the truth of God, in my lie, has more abounded to his glory, why yet am *I* also judged as a sinner?

⁸ and not, according as we are injuriously charged, and according as some affirm that we say, Let us practise evil things, that good ones may come? whose judgment is just.