Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴ How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget its skill!
⁶ If I do not remember you,
Let my ^(B)tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, against ^(C)the sons of Edom
The day of Jerusalem,
Who said, ^[a]“Raze it, raze it,
To its very foundation!”

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, ^(D)who are to be destroyed,
Happy the one ^(E)who repays you as you have served us!
⁹ Happy the one who takes and ^(F)dashes
Your little ones against the rock!

¹³ How shall I ^(A)console^[a] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?

¹⁴ Your ^(B)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not ^(C)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false ^(D)prophecies and delusions.

¹⁵ All who ^[b]pass by ^(E)clap their hands at you;
They hiss ^(F)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
^(G)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”

^16 (H)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, ^(I)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the ^(J)day we have waited for;
We have found it, ^(K)we have seen it!”

¹⁷ The Lord has done what He ^(L)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to ^(M)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the ^[c]horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸ Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(N)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give ^[d]your eyes no rest.

¹⁹ “Arise, ^(O)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
^(P)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger ^(Q)at the head of every street.”

²⁰ “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
^(R)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children ^[e]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ “Young^(S) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the ^(T)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.

²² “You have invited as to a feast day
^(U)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
^(V)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have ^(W)destroyed.”