Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace! 2Verse 2. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners. 3Verse 3. We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows. 4Verse 4. We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price. 5Verse 5. We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest. 6Verse 6. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. 7Verse 7. Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment. 8Verse 8. Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands. 9Verse 9. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. 10Verse 10. Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger. 11Verse 11. Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. 12Verse 12. Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect. 13Verse 13. Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. 14Verse 14. The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. 15Verse 15. Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. 16Verse 16. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! 17Verse 17. Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim— 18Verse 18. because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes. 19Verse 19. You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation. 20Verse 20. Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long? 21Verse 21. Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old, 22Verse 22. unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.

12Verse 12. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity! 13Verse 13. Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain? 14Verse 14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 15Verse 15. Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! 16Verse 16. You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory. 17Verse 17. For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers. 18Verse 18. What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it — or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19Verse 19. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.” 20Verse 20. But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.