God’s Mercy Remembered

7 I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,

the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,

because of all that the Lord has done for us,

and the great favor to the house of Israel

that he has shown them according to his mercy,

according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

8 For he said, “Surely they are my people,

children who will not deal falsely”;

and he became their savior

9 in all their distress.

It was no messengera or angel

but his presence that saved them;b

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

10 But they rebelled

and grieved his holy spirit;

therefore he became their enemy;

he himself fought against them.

11 Then theyc remembered the days of old,

of Moses his servant.d

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea

with the shepherds of his flock?

Where is the one who put within them

his holy spirit,

12 who caused his glorious arm

to march at the right hand of Moses,

who divided the waters before them

to make for himself an everlasting name,

13 who led them through the depths?

Like a horse in the desert,

they did not stumble.

14 Like cattle that go down into the valley,

the spirit of the Lord gave them rest.

Thus you led your people,

to make for yourself a glorious name.

A Prayer of Penitence

15 Look down from heaven and see,

from your holy and glorious habitation.

Where are your zeal and your might?

The yearning of your heart and your compassion?

They are withheld from me.

16 For you are our father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not acknowledge us;

you, O Lord, are our father;

our Redeemer from of old is your name.

17 Why, O Lord, do you make us stray from your ways

and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you?

Turn back for the sake of your servants,

for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.

18 Your holy people took possession for a little while;

but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.

19 We have long been like those whom you do not rule,

like those not called by your name.

64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence—

2 a as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

to make your name known to your adversaries,

so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 From ages past no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.

5 You meet those who gladly do right,

those who remember you in your ways.

But you were angry, and we sinned;

because you hid yourself we transgressed.b

6 We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 There is no one who calls on your name,

or attempts to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have deliveredc us into the hand of our iniquity.

8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,

and do not remember iniquity forever.

Now consider, we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness,

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11 Our holy and beautiful house,

where our ancestors praised you,

has been burned by fire,

and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

12 After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord?

Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?

The Righteousness of God’s Judgment

65 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,

to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that did not call on my name.

2 I held out my hands all day long

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

3 a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

sacrificing in gardens

and offering incense on bricks;

4 who sit inside tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

who eat swine’s flesh,

with broth of abominable things in their vessels;

5 who say, “Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”

These are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all day long.

6 See, it is written before me:

I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

I will indeed repay into their laps

7 theira iniquities and theirb ancestors’ iniquities together,

says the Lord;

because they offered incense on the mountains

and reviled me on the hills,

I will measure into their laps

full payment for their actions.

8 Thus says the Lord:

As the wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, “Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,”

so I will do for my servants’ sake,

and not destroy them all.

9 I will bring forth descendantsc from Jacob,

and from Judah inheritorsd of my mountains;

my chosen shall inherit it,

and my servants shall settle there.

10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,

for my people who have sought me.

11 But you who forsake the Lord,

who forget my holy mountain,

who set a table for Fortune

and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;

12 I will destine you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;

because, when I called, you did not answer,

when I spoke, you did not listen,

but you did what was evil in my sight,

and chose what I did not delight in.

13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:

My servants shall eat,

but you shall be hungry;

my servants shall drink,

but you shall be thirsty;

my servants shall rejoice,

but you shall be put to shame;

14 my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,

but you shall cry out for pain of heart,

and shall wail for anguish of spirit.

15 You shall leave your name to my chosen to use as a curse,

and the Lord God will put you to death;

but to his servants he will give a different name.

16 Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land

shall bless by the God of faithfulness,

and whoever takes an oath in the land

shall swear by the God of faithfulness;

because the former troubles are forgotten

and are hidden from my sight.