Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

80 O Shepherd of Israel who leads Israel like a flock; O God enthroned above the Guardian Angels, bend down your ear and listen as I plead. Display your power and radiant glory. ² Let Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh see you rouse yourself and use your mighty power to rescue us.

⁸ You brought us from Egypt as though we were a tender vine and drove away the heathen from your land and planted us. ⁹ You cleared the ground and tilled the soil, and we took root and filled the land. ¹⁰ The mountains were covered with our shadow; we were like the mighty cedar trees,^{[a] 11} covering the entire land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. ¹² But now you have broken down our walls, leaving us without protection. ¹³ The boar from the forest roots around us, and the wild animals feed on us.

¹⁴ Come back, we beg of you, O God of the armies of heaven, and bless us. Look down from heaven and see our plight and care for this your vine! ¹⁵ Protect what you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. ¹⁶ For we are chopped and burned by our enemies. May they perish at your frown. ¹⁷ Strengthen the man you love,^[b] the son of your choice, ¹⁸ and we will never forsake you again. Revive us to trust in you.

¹⁹ Turn us again to yourself, O God of the armies of heaven. Look down on us, your face aglow with joy and love—only then shall we be saved.

⁵ O Israel, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord and be obedient to his laws!^[a]

⁶ The Lord has rejected you because you welcome foreigners from the East who practice magic and communicate with evil spirits, as the Philistines do.

⁷ Israel has vast treasures of silver and gold, and great numbers of horses and chariots ⁸ and idols—the land is full of them! They are man-made, and yet you worship them! ⁹ Small and great, all bow before them; God will not forgive you for this sin.

¹⁰ Crawl into the caves in the rocks and hide in terror from his glorious majesty, ¹¹ for the day is coming when your proud looks will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted.

²⁶ If anyone sins deliberately by rejecting the Savior after knowing the truth of forgiveness, this sin is not covered by Christ’s death; there is no way to get rid of it. ²⁷ There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible punishment of God’s awful anger, which will consume all his enemies. ²⁸ A man who refused to obey the laws given by Moses was killed without mercy if there were two or three witnesses to his sin. ²⁹ Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God and treated his cleansing blood as though it were common and unhallowed, and insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to his people.

³⁰ For we know him who said, “Justice belongs to me; I will repay them”; who also said, “The Lord himself will handle these cases.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.