Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 79[a]
A psalm of Asaph.
79 O God, foreigners[b] have invaded your chosen land;[c]
they have polluted your holy temple
and turned Jerusalem into a heap of ruins.
2 They have given the corpses of your servants
to the birds of the sky,[d]
the flesh of your loyal followers
to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have made their blood flow like water
all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them.[e]
4 We have become an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.[f]
5 How long will this go on, O Lord?[g]
Will you stay angry forever?
How long will your rage[h] burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you,[i]
on the kingdoms that do not pray to you.[j]
7 For they have devoured Jacob
and destroyed his home.
8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations.[k]
Quickly send your compassion our way,[l]
for we are in serious trouble.[m]
9 Help us, O God, our deliverer!
For the sake of your glorious reputation,[n] rescue us.
Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation.[o]
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants
be avenged among the nations.[p]
11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners.[q]
Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die.[r]
12 Pay back our neighbors in full.[s]
May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord.[t]
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will continually thank you.[u]
We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts.[v]
Restoration Will Follow Crisis
6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame
and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.[a]
7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation,[b]
and those far off[c] into a mighty nation.
The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,
from that day forward and forevermore.[d]
8 As for you, watchtower for the flock,[e]
fortress of Daughter Zion[f]—
your former dominion will be restored,[g]
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”
9 Jerusalem, why are you[h] now shouting so loudly?[i]
Has your king disappeared?[j]
Has your wise leader[k] been destroyed?
Is this why[l] pain grips[m] you as if you were a woman in labor?
10 Twist and strain,[n] Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver[o] you
from the power[p] of your enemies.
11 Many nations have now assembled against you.
They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated,[q]
so we can gloat over Zion!”[r]
12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning;
they do not understand his strategy.
He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed[s] at the threshing floor.
13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!
For I will give you iron horns;[t]
I will give you bronze hooves,
and you will crush many nations.”[u]
You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them
and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler[v] of the whole earth.[w]
Babylon is Destroyed
18 After these things I saw another angel, who possessed great authority, coming down out of heaven, and the earth was lit up by his radiance.[a] 2 He[b] shouted with a powerful voice:
“Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!
She[c] has become a lair for demons,
a haunt[d] for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detested beast.[e]
3 For all the nations[f] have fallen[g] from
the wine of her immoral passion,[h]
and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.”[i]
4 Then[j] I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues, 5 because her sins have piled[k] up all the way to heaven[l] and God has remembered[m] her crimes.[n] 6 Repay her the same way she repaid others;[o] pay her back double[p] corresponding to her deeds. In the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her. 7 As much as[q] she exalted herself and lived in sensual luxury,[r] to this extent give her torment and grief because she said to herself,[s] ‘I rule as queen and am no widow; I will never experience grief!’ 8 For this reason, she will experience her plagues[t] in a single day: disease,[u] mourning,[v] and famine, and she will be burned down[w] with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!”
9 Then[x] the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury[y] with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up.[z] 10 They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say,
“Woe, woe, O great city,
Babylon the powerful city!
For in a single hour your doom[aa] has come!”
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