God Will Bless Judah and Ephraim

1Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—

The Lord who makes the storm clouds;

And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.

2For the teraphim speak iniquity,

And the diviners see lying visions

And tell false dreams;

They comfort in vain.

Therefore the people wander like sheep,

They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.

3“My anger is kindled against the shepherds,

And I will punish the male goats;

For the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah,

And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.

4From them will come the cornerstone,

From them the tent peg,

From them the bow of battle,

From them every ruler, all of them together.

5They will be as mighty men,

Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle;

And they will fight, for the Lord will be with them;

And the riders on horses will be put to shame.

6I will strengthen the house of Judah,

And I will save the house of Joseph,

And I will bring them back,

Because I have had compassion on them;

And they will be as though I had not rejected them,

For I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.

7Ephraim will be like a mighty man,

And their heart will be glad as if from wine;

Indeed, their children will see it and be glad,

Their heart will rejoice in the Lord.

8I will whistle for them to gather them together,

For I have redeemed them;

And they will be as numerous as they were before.

9When I scatter them among the peoples,

They will remember Me in far countries,

And they with their children will live and come back.

10I will bring them back from the land of Egypt

And gather them from Assyria;

And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon

Until no room can be found for them.

11And they will pass through the sea of distress

And He will strike the waves in the sea,

So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;

And the pride of Assyria will be brought down

And the scepter of Egypt will depart.

12And I will strengthen them in the Lord,

And in His name they will walk,” declares the Lord.

The Doomed Flock

1Open your doors, O Lebanon,

That a fire may feed on your cedars.

2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,

Because the glorious trees have been destroyed;

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

For the impenetrable forest has come down.

3There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,

For their glory is ruined;

There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,

For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

4Thus says the Lord my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter. 5Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them from their power.”

7So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock. 8Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. 9Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces, to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11So it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. 14Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15The Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

17Woe to the worthless shepherd

Who leaves the flock!

A sword will be on his arm

And on his right eye!

His arm will be totally withered

And his right eye will be blind.”

Babylon Is Fallen

1After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. 2And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. 3For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”

4I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. 7To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ 8For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

Lament for Babylon

9“And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, 10standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’

11“And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, 13and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. 14The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. 15The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; 17for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, 18and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ 19And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’ 20Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”

21Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. 22And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; 23and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. 24And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

PSALM 146

The Lord an Abundant Helper.

1Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2I will praise the Lord while I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3Do not trust in princes,

In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

4His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;

In that very day his thoughts perish.

5How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6Who made heaven and earth,

The sea and all that is in them;

Who keeps faith forever;

7Who executes justice for the oppressed;

Who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free.

8The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;

The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;

The Lord loves the righteous;

9The Lord protects the strangers;

He supports the fatherless and the widow,

But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

10The Lord will reign forever,

Your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

33For the churning of milk produces butter,

And pressing the nose brings forth blood;

So the churning of anger produces strife.