Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 79
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 The dead bodies of Your servants
they have given to the birds of the sky for food
and the flesh of Your faithful to the animals of the land.
3 Their blood they have poured out like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath
upon the nations who do not know You,
and upon the kingdoms
who have not called upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 Do not choose to remember our former iniquities;
let Your tender mercies come swiftly to us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us, and purge away our sins,
for Your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
May the avenging of the shed blood of Your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before You;
according to the greatness of Your power
preserve those who are appointed to die.
12 And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their lap
the reproach that they have reproached You, O Lord.
13 But we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
and will give You thanks forever;
we will declare Your praise
to all generations.
The Promise of Restoration
6 In that day, declares the Lord,
I will assemble the lame
and gather the banished
and those whom I have afflicted;
7 and I will make the lame into a remnant,
and the banished into a mighty nation;
and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion
from this time forth and forevermore.
8 As for you, watchtower of the flock,
citadel of the daughter of Zion,
to you it will come, the former dominion will come,
kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now why do you cry loudly?
Have you no king?
Has your counselor perished,
that agony has seized you like the woman in labor?
10 Writhe and bring forth, daughter of Zion,
like the woman in labor,
because now you will go forth from the city
and reside in the field,
and you will come to Babylon.
There you will be rescued;
there the Lord will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations
are gathered against you, saying,
“May she be defiled,
and may our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord,
and they do not understand His plan,
that He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron;
your hoofs I will make bronze,
and you will shatter many peoples.
I will devote their pillage to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
The Fall of Babylon
18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 He cried out mightily with a loud voice, saying:
“ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’[a]
She has become a dwelling place of demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
and a haunt for every unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all the nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality,
the kings of the earth have committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the
abundance of her luxury.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying:
“ ‘Come out of her, my people,’[b]
lest you partake in her sins,
and lest you receive her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached up to heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Render to her as she has rendered to you,
and repay her double for her deeds;
in the cup which she has mixed, mix a double portion for her.
7 To the extent that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
so give her torment and sorrow;
for in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen, and am no widow,
and will see no sorrow.’[c]
8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—
death and mourning and famine.
And she will be utterly burned with fire,
for strong is the Lord God who judges her.
9 “The kings of the earth, who have committed adultery and lived luxuriously with her, will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 Standing far off for the fear of her torment, they will say:
‘Alas, alas for that great city,
that mighty city, Babylon!
In one hour your judgment has come.’
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.