Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 80

To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Lilies, a Testimony.” A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead Joseph like a flock; You Who sit enthroned upon the cherubim [of the ark of the covenant], shine forth

² Before ^[a]Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up Your might, and come to save us!

⁸ You brought a vine [Israel] out of Egypt; You drove out the [heathen] nations and planted it [in Canaan].

⁹ You prepared room before it, and it took deep root and it filled the land.

¹⁰ The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs of it were like the great cedars [cedars of God].

¹¹ [Israel] sent out its boughs to the [Mediterranean] Sea and its branches to the [Euphrates] River.^(A)

¹² Why have You broken down its hedges and walls so that all who pass by pluck from its fruit?

¹³ The boar out of the wood wastes it and the wild beast of the field feeds on it.

¹⁴ Turn again, we beseech You, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven and see, visit, and have regard for this vine!

¹⁵ [Protect and maintain] the stock which Your right hand planted, and the branch (the son) that You have reared and made strong for Yourself.

¹⁶ They have burned it with fire, it is cut down; may they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

¹⁷ Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself.

¹⁸ Then will we not depart from You; revive us (give us life) and we will call upon Your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause Your face to shine [in pleasure, approval, and favor on us], and we shall be saved!

⁵ O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

⁶ Surely [Lord] You have rejected and forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled [with customs] from the east and with soothsayers [who foretell] like the Philistines; also they strike hands and make pledges and agreements with the children of aliens.^(A)

⁷ Their land also is full of silver and gold; neither is there any end to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses; neither is there any end to their chariots.^(B)

⁸ Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, what their own fingers have made.

⁹ And the common man is bowed down [before idols], also the great man is brought low and humbles himself—therefore forgive them not [O Lord].

¹⁰ Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and from the glory of His majesty.

¹¹ The proud looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

²⁶ For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward].

²⁷ [There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God].^(A)

²⁸ Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.^(B)

²⁹ How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)?^(C)

³⁰ For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay [I will exact the compensation], says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge and determine and solve and settle the cause and the cases of His people.^(D)

³¹ It is a fearful (formidable and terrible) thing to incur the divine penalties and be cast into the hands of the living God!