Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ Those who were against you shouted in your meeting place
    and raised their flags there.
⁵ They came with axes raised
    as if to cut down a forest of trees.
⁶ They smashed the carved panels
    with their axes and hatchets.
⁷ They burned your Temple to the ground;
    they have made the place where you live unclean.
⁸ They thought, “We will completely crush them!”
    They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
⁹ We do not see any signs.
    There are no more prophets,
    and no one knows how long this will last.
¹⁰ God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of you?
    Will they insult you forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your power?
    Bring your power out in the open and destroy them!

¹² God, you have been our king for a long time.
    You bring salvation to the earth.
¹³ You split open the sea by your power
    and broke the heads of the sea monster.
¹⁴ You smashed the heads of the monster Leviathan
    and gave it to the desert creatures as food.
¹⁵ You opened up the springs and streams
    and made the flowing rivers run dry.
¹⁶ Both the day and the night are yours;
    you made the sun and the moon.
¹⁷ You set all the limits on the earth;
    you created summer and winter.

¹⁸ Lord, remember how the enemy insulted you.
    Remember how those foolish people made fun of you.
¹⁹ Do not give us, your doves, to those wild animals.
    Never forget your poor people.
²⁰ Remember the agreement you made with us,
    because violence fills every dark corner of this land.
²¹ Do not let your suffering people be disgraced.
    Let the poor and helpless praise you.

²² God, arise and defend yourself.
    Remember the insults that come from those foolish people all day long.
²³ Don’t forget what your enemies said;
    don’t forget their roar as they rise against you always.

⁸ How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses
    and more fields to your fields
until there is no room left for other people.
    Then you are left alone in the land.

“The fine houses will be destroyed;
    the large and beautiful houses will be left empty.
¹⁰ At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine,
    and ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain.”

¹¹ How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morning
    to look for strong drink,
who stay awake late at night,
    becoming drunk with wine.
¹² At their parties they have lyres, harps,
    tambourines, flutes, and wine.
They don’t see what the Lord has done
    or notice the work of his hands.
¹³ So my people will be captured and taken away,
    because they don’t really know me.
All the great people will die of hunger,
    and the common people will die of thirst.
¹⁴ So the place of the dead wants more and more people,
    and it opens wide its mouth.
Jerusalem’s important people and common people will go down into it,
    with their happy and noisy ones.
¹⁵ So the common people and the great people will be brought down;
    those who are proud will be humbled.
¹⁶ The Lord All-Powerful will receive glory by judging fairly;
    the holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.
¹⁷ Then the sheep will go anywhere they want,
    and lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.

¹⁸ How terrible it will be for those people!
    They pull their guilt and sins behind them
    as people pull wagons with ropes.
¹⁹ They say, “Let God hurry;
    let him do his work soon
    so we may see it.
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon
    so that we will know what it is.”

²⁰ How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad
    and bad things good,
who think darkness is light
    and light is darkness,
who think sour is sweet
    and sweet is sour.

²¹ How terrible it will be for people who think they are wise
    and believe they are clever.

²² How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wine
    and are champions at mixing drinks.
²³ They take money to set the guilty free
    and don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.