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The Worship God Demands
66 Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
so what kind of house could you build for me,
what sort of place for me to rest?(A)
2 All these things my hand has made,
so all these things are mine,[a]
says the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
to the humble and contrite in spirit
who trembles at my word.(B)
3 Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human,
whoever sacrifices a lamb like one who breaks a dog’s neck,
whoever presents a grain offering like one who offers pig’s blood,
whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense like one who blesses an idol.
Just as these have chosen their own ways
and in their abominations they take delight,(C)
4 so I will choose their punishments
and bring upon them what they fear,
because, when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen,
but they did what was evil in my sight
and chose what did not please me.(D)
The Lord Vindicates Zion
5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at his word:
Your own people who hate you
and reject you for my name’s sake
have said, “Let the Lord be glorified,
so that we may see your joy,”
but it is they who shall be put to shame.(E)
6 Listen, a roar from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of the Lord,
dealing retribution to his enemies!(F)
7 Before she was in labor
she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
she delivered a son.(G)
8 Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor
she delivered her children.(H)
9 Shall I open the womb and not deliver?
says the Lord;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?
says your God.
10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her—(I)
11 that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her consoling breast,
that you may drink deeply with delight
from her glorious bosom.(J)
12 For thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm
and bounced on her knees.(K)
13 As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.(L)
The Reign and Indignation of God
14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bodies[b] shall flourish like the grass,
and it shall be known that the power of the Lord is with his servants,
and his indignation is against his enemies.(M)
15 For the Lord will come in fire
and his chariots in a whirlwind,[c]
to vent his anger in fury
and his rebuke in flames of fire.(N)
16 For by fire will the Lord execute judgment,
and by his sword on all flesh;
and those slain by the Lord shall be many.(O)
17 Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the center, eating the flesh of pigs, vermin, and rodents, shall come to an end together, says the Lord,(P) 18 for I know[d] their works and their thoughts.
I am[e] coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and shall see my glory,(Q) 19 and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put,[f] and Lud, to Meshech,[g] Tubal, and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the nations.(R) 20 They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.(S) 21 And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the Lord.(T)
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth,
which I will make,
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
so shall your descendants and your name remain.(U)
23 From new moon to new moon
and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the Lord.(V)
24 And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.(W)
4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;(A) 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.(B) 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ(C) 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ,[a] the righteousness from God based on faith.(D) 10 I want to know Christ[b] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.(E)
Pressing toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal,[c] but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ[d] has laid hold of me.(F) 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold[e] of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,(G) 14 I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly[f] call of God in Christ Jesus.(H) 15 Let those of us, then, who are mature[g] think this way, and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you.(I) 16 Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.(J)
17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.(K) 18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.(L) 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.(M) 20 But our citizenship[h] is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humiliation[i] that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,[j] by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.(N)
Psalm 74
Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation
A Maskil of Asaph.
1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?(A)
2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.(B)
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.(C)
4 Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.(D)
5 At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.[a](E)
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.(F)
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.(G)
9 We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.(H)
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?(I)
11 Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in[b] your bosom?(J)
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.(K)
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.(L)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food[c] for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.(M)
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries[d] and the sun.(N)
17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.(O)
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles your name.(P)
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.(Q)
20 Have regard for your[e] covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.(R)
21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.(S)
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.(T)
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.(U)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.