Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴⁰ For this Adonai’s fury blazed up against his people,
and he detested his heritage.
⁴¹ He handed them over to the power of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies oppressed them
and kept them in subjection to their power.
⁴³ Many times [God] rescued them,
but they kept making plans to rebel.
Thus they were brought low
by their own wrongdoing.

⁴⁴ Still he took pity on their distress
whenever he heard their cry.
⁴⁵ For their sakes he kept in mind his covenant
and in his limitless grace relented,
⁴⁶ causing them to be treated with compassion
by all who had taken them captive.

⁴⁷ Save us, Adonai our God!
Gather us from among the nations,
so that we can thank your holy name
and glory in praising you.

⁴⁸ Blessed be Adonai, the God of Isra’el,
from eternity past to eternity future.
Now let all the people say,
“Amen! Halleluyah!”

10 Hear the word Adonai speaks to you,
house of Isra’el!
² Here is what Adonai says:
“Don’t learn the way of the Goyim,
don’t be frightened by astrological signs,
even if the Goyim are afraid of them;
³ for the customs of the peoples are nothing.
They cut down a tree in the forest;
a craftsman works it with his axe;
⁴ they deck it with silver and gold.
They fix it with hammer and nails,
so that it won’t move.
⁵ Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,
it cannot speak.
It has to be carried,
because it cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of it —
it can do nothing bad;
likewise it is unable
to do anything good!”

⁶ There is no one like you, Adonai!
You are great, and your name is great and mighty.
⁷ Who would not fear you, king of the nations?
For it is your due! —
since among all the wise of the nations
and among all their royalty,
there is no one like you.
⁸ One and all they are boorish and stupid;
the teaching of their nothings is a piece of wood!
⁹ Silver is beaten into plates,
then imported from Tarshish.
Gold from Ufaz is worked by a craftsman
and shaped by the hands of a goldsmith.
They are clothed in blue and purple,
all the work of skillful men.
¹⁰ But Adonai, God, is the true God,
the living God, the everlasting king.
At his anger, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his fury.

¹¹ “This is what you must say to them:
‘The gods that did not make heaven and earth
will perish from earth and from under heaven.’”

¹² God made the earth by his power,
established the world by his wisdom
spread out the sky by his understanding.
¹³ When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar,
he raises clouds from the ends of the earth,
he makes the lightning flash in the rain
and brings the wind out from his storehouses.
¹⁴ At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant,
every goldsmith put to shame by his idol!
The figures he casts are a fraud;
there is no breath in them;
¹⁵ they are nothings, ridiculous objects;
when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

¹⁶ Ya‘akov’s portion is not like these,
for he is the one who formed all things.
Isra’el is the tribe he claims as his heritage;
Adonai-Tzva’ot is his name.