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Psalm 75

1  We give you thanks, O God, we give you thanks, ♦︎
   for your name is near, as your wonderful deeds declare.
2  ‘I will seize the appointed time; ♦︎
   I, the Lord, will judge with equity.
3  ‘Though the earth reels and all that dwell in her, ♦︎
   it is I that hold her pillars steady.
4  ‘To the boasters I say, “Boast no longer,” ♦︎
   and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horn.
5  ‘ “Do not lift up your horn on high; ♦︎
   do not speak with a stiff neck.” ’
6  For neither from the east nor from the west, ♦︎
   nor yet from the wilderness comes exaltation.
7  But God alone is judge; ♦︎
   he puts down one and raises up another.
8  For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, ♦︎
   well mixed and full of foaming wine.
9  He pours it out for all the wicked of the earth; ♦︎
   they shall drink it, and drain the dregs.
10  But I will rejoice for ever ♦︎
   and make music to the God of Jacob.
11  All the horns of the wicked will I break, ♦︎
   but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Nahum

1An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

The Consuming Wrath of God

² A jealous and avenging God is the Lord,
   the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
   and rages against his enemies.
³ The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
   and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,
   and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
⁴ He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,
   and he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither,
   and the bloom of Lebanon fades.
⁵ The mountains quake before him,
   and the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
   the world and all who live in it.

⁶ Who can stand before his indignation?
   Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
   and by him the rocks are broken in pieces.
⁷ The Lord is good,
   a stronghold on a day of trouble;
he protects those who take refuge in him,
⁸   even in a rushing flood.
He will make a full end of his adversaries,^*
   and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹ Why do you plot against the Lord?
   He will make an end;
   no adversary will rise up twice.
¹⁰ Like thorns they are entangled,
   like drunkards they are drunk;
   they are consumed like dry straw.
¹¹ From you one has gone out
   who plots evil against the Lord,
   one who counsels wickedness.

Good News for Judah

¹² Thus says the Lord,
‘Though they are at full strength and many,^*
   they will be cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
   I will afflict you no more.
¹³ And now I will break off his yoke from you
   and snap the bonds that bind you.’

12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of^* Jesus.

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them.’

Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! ¹⁵Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, ‘Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.’ ¹⁶So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.’ ¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. ²⁰And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for a distance of about two hundred miles.^*