Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 20
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;
may the name of the God of Jacob defend you;
2 may He send you help from the sanctuary,
and strengthen you from Zion;
3 may He remember all your offerings,
and accept your burnt offering. Selah
4 May He grant you according to your own heart,
and fulfill all your counsel.
5 We will rejoice in your salvation,
and in the name of our God we will set up our banners;
may the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
with the saving strength of His right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen,
but we arise and stand upright.
9 Save, Lord!
May the King answer us when we call.
15 Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
16 Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears;
for your work shall be rewarded,
says the Lord,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your future,
says the Lord,
that your children will come back to their own border.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim pleading:
“You have chastised me,
and I was chastised, as an untrained calf;
turn me back and I will be turned,
for you are the Lord my God.
19 Surely after I turned back,
I repented;
and after I was instructed,
I struck myself on my thigh;
I was ashamed and even humiliated
because I bore the reproach of my youth.”
20 Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For since I spoke against him,
I surely do remember him still;
therefore My heart longs for him.
I will surely have mercy on him,
says the Lord.
21 Set up road marks,
place guideposts.
Set your heart toward the highway,
even the way by which you went.
Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
turn back to these your cities.
22 How long will you go about,
O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth:
A woman shall obtain a man.
41 When He came near, He beheld the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had known even today what things would bring you peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you and surround you, and press you in on every side. 44 They will dash you, and your children within you, to the ground. They will not leave one stone upon another within you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.