Bible Reading Plan – Day 114

₁O God, the heathen have invaded your land.

They have desecrated your holy Temple

and left Jerusalem in ruins.

₂They left the bodies of your people for the vultures,

the bodies of your servants for wild animals to eat.

₃They shed your people's blood like water;

blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem,

and no one was left to bury the dead.

₄The surrounding nations insult us;

they laugh at us and mock us.

₅LORD, will you be angry with us for ever?

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

₆Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you,

on the people who do not pray to you.

₇For they have killed your people;

they have ruined your country.

₈Do not punish us for the sins of our ancestors.

Have mercy on us now;

we have lost all hope.

₉Help us, O God, and save us;

rescue us and forgive our sins

for the sake of your own honour.

₁₀Why should the nations ask us,

“Where is your God?”

Let us see you punish the nations

for shedding the blood of your servants.

₁₁Listen to the groans of the prisoners,

and by your great power free those who are condemned to die.

₁₂Lord, pay the other nations back seven times

for all the insults they have hurled at you.

₁₃Then we, your people, the sheep of your flock,

will thank you for ever

and praise you for all time to come.

₁Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel;

hear us, leader of your flock.

Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,

₂reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.

Show us your strength;

come and save us!

₃Bring us back, O God!

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

₄How much longer, LORD God Almighty,

will you be angry with your people's prayers?

₅You have given us sorrow to eat,

a large cup of tears to drink.

₆You let the surrounding nations fight over our land;

our enemies insult us.

₇Bring us back, Almighty God!

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

₈You brought a grapevine out of Egypt;

you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.

₉You cleared a place for it to grow;

its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.

₁₀It covered the hills with its shade;

its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.

₁₁It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea

and as far as the River Euphrates.

₁₂Why did you break down the fences round it?

Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;

₁₃wild pigs trample it down,

and wild animals feed on it.

₁₄Turn to us, Almighty God!

Look down from heaven at us;

come and save your people!

₁₅Come and save this grapevine that you planted,

this young vine you made grow so strong!

₁₆Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down;

look at them in anger and destroy them!

₁₇Preserve and protect the people you have chosen,

the nation you made so strong.

₁₈We will never turn away from you again;

keep us alive, and we will praise you.

₁₉Bring us back, LORD God Almighty.

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.

₁Shout for joy to God our defender;

sing praise to the God of Jacob!

₂Start the music and beat the tambourines;

play pleasant music on the harps and the lyres.

₃Blow the trumpet for the festival,

when the moon is new and when the moon is full.

₄This is the law in Israel,

an order from the God of Jacob.

₅He gave it to the people of Israel

when he attacked the land of Egypt.

I hear an unknown voice saying,

₆“I took the burdens off your backs;

I let you put down your loads of bricks.

₇When you were in trouble, you called to me, and I saved you.

From my hiding place in the storm, I answered you.

I put you to the test at the springs of Meribah.

₈Listen, my people, to my warning;

Israel, how I wish you would listen to me!

₉You must never worship another god.

₁₀I am the LORD your God,

who brought you out of Egypt.

Open your mouth, and I will feed you.

₁₁“But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not obey me.

₁₂So I let them go their stubborn ways

and do whatever they wanted.

₁₃How I wish my people would listen to me;

how I wish they would obey me!

₁₄I would quickly defeat their enemies

and conquer all their foes.

₁₅Those who hate me would bow in fear before me;

their punishment would last for ever.

₁₆But I would feed you with the finest wheat

and satisfy you with wild honey.”

₁God presides in the heavenly council;

in the assembly of the gods he gives his decision:

₂“You must stop judging unjustly;

you must no longer be partial to the wicked!

₃Defend the rights of the poor and the orphans;

be fair to the needy and the helpless.

₄Rescue them from the power of the wicked.

₅“How ignorant you are! How stupid!

You are completely corrupt,

and justice has disappeared from the world.

₆‘You are gods,’ I said;

‘all of you are children of the Most High.’

₇But you will die like mortals;

your life will end like that of any prince.”

₈Come, O God, and rule the world;

all the nations are yours.

₁O God, do not keep silent;

do not be still, do not be quiet!

₂Look! Your enemies are in revolt,

and those who hate you are rebelling.

₃They are making secret plans against your people;

they are plotting against those you protect.

₄“Come,” they say, “let us destroy their nation,

so that Israel will be forgotten for ever.”

₅They agree on their plan

and form an alliance against you:

₆the people of Edom and the Ishmaelites;

the people of Moab and the Hagrites;

₇the people of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,

and of Philistia and Tyre.

₈Assyria has also joined them

as a strong ally of the Ammonites and Moabites, the descendants of Lot.

₉Do to them what you did to the Midianites,

and to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon.

₁₀You defeated them at Endor,

and their bodies rotted on the ground.

₁₁Do to their leaders what you did to Oreb and Zeeb;

defeat all their rulers as you did Zebah and Zalmunna,

₁₂who said, “We will take for our own

the land that belongs to God.”

₁₃Scatter them like dust, O God,

like straw blown away by the wind.

₁₄As fire burns the forest,

as flames set the hills on fire,

₁₅chase them away with your storm

and terrify them with your fierce winds.

₁₆Cover their faces with shame, O LORD,

and make them acknowledge your power.

₁₇May they be defeated and terrified for ever;

may they die in complete disgrace.

₁₈May they know that you alone are the LORD,

supreme ruler over all the earth.

₁How I love your Temple, LORD Almighty!

₂How I want to be there!

I long to be in the LORD's Temple.

With my whole being I sing for joy

to the living God.

₃Even the sparrows have built a nest,

and the swallows have their own home;

they keep their young near your altars,

LORD Almighty, my king and my God.

₄How happy are those who live in your Temple,

always singing praise to you.

₅How happy are those whose strength comes from you,

who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion.

₆As they pass through the dry valley of Baca,

it becomes a place of springs;

the autumn rain fills it with pools.

₇They grow stronger as they go;

they will see the God of gods on Zion.

₈Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty.

Listen, O God of Jacob!

₉Bless our king, O God,

the king you have chosen.

₁₀One day spent in your Temple

is better than a thousand anywhere else;

I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God

than live in the homes of the wicked.

₁₁The LORD is our protector and glorious king,

blessing us with kindness and honour.

He does not refuse any good thing

to those who do what is right.

₁₂LORD Almighty, how happy are those who trust in you!

₁LORD, you have been merciful to your land;

you have made Israel prosperous again.

₂You have forgiven your people's sins

and pardoned all their wrongs.

₃You stopped being angry with them

and held back your furious rage.

₄Bring us back, O God our saviour,

and stop being displeased with us!

₅Will you be angry with us for ever?

Will your anger never cease?

₆Make us strong again,

and we, your people, will praise you.

₇Show us your constant love, O LORD,

and give us your saving help.

₈I am listening to what the LORD God is saying;

he promises peace to us, his own people,

if we do not go back to our foolish ways.

₉Surely he is ready to save those who honour him,

and his saving presence will remain in our land.

₁₀Love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will embrace.

₁₁Human loyalty will reach up from the earth,

and God's righteousness will look down from heaven.

₁₂The LORD will make us prosperous,

and our land will produce rich harvests.

₁₃Righteousness will go before the LORD

and prepare the path for him.