Daily Wisdom Plan

¹O God, pagan nations have conquered your land, your special possession. They have defiled your holy Temple and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.

²They have left the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of heaven. The flesh of your godly ones has become food for the wild animals.

³Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem; no one is left to bury the dead.

⁴We are mocked by our neighbors, an object of scorn and derision to those around us.

⁵O LORD, how long will you be angry with us? Forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you — on kingdoms that do not call upon your name.

⁷For they have devoured your people Israel, making the land a desolate wilderness.

⁸Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our ancestors! Let your compassion quickly meet our needs, for we are on the brink of despair.

⁹Help us, O God of our salvation! Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name.

¹⁰Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff, asking, “Where is their God?” Show us your vengeance against the nations, for they have spilled the blood of your servants.

¹¹Listen to the moaning of the prisoners. Demonstrate your great power by saving those condemned to die.

¹²O Lord, pay back our neighbors seven times for the scorn they have hurled at you.

¹³Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and ever, praising your greatness from generation to generation.

¹Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock. O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory

²to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us!

³Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

⁴O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers?

⁵You have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful.

⁶You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations. Our enemies treat us as a joke.

⁷Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

⁸You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.

⁹You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land.

¹⁰Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars.

¹¹We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.

¹²But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?

¹³The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it.

¹⁴Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine

¹⁵that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.

¹⁶For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies. May they perish at the sight of your frown.

¹⁷Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice.

¹⁸Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once more.

¹⁹Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

¹Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob.

²Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp.

³Blow the ram’s horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival!

⁴For this is required by the decrees of Israel; it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.

⁵He made it a law for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice say,

⁶“Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.

⁷You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interlude

⁸“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me!

⁹You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god.

¹⁰For it was I, the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

¹¹“But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around.

¹²So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.

¹³Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!

¹⁴How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes!

¹⁵Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever.

¹⁶But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”