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Psalm 77

1  I cry aloud to God; ♦︎
   I cry aloud to God and he will hear me.
2  In the day of my trouble I have sought the Lord; ♦︎
   by night my hand is stretched out and does not tire;
      my soul refuses comfort.
3  I think upon God and I groan; ♦︎
   I ponder, and my spirit faints.
4  You will not let my eyelids close; ♦︎
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5  I consider the days of old; ♦︎
   I remember the years long past;
6  I commune with my heart in the night; ♦︎
   my spirit searches for understanding.
7  Will the Lord cast us off for ever? ♦︎
   Will he no more show us his favour?
8  Has his loving mercy clean gone for ever? ♦︎
   Has his promise come to an end for evermore?
9  Has God forgotten to be gracious? ♦︎
   Has he shut up his compassion in displeasure?
10  And I said, ‘My grief is this: ♦︎
   that the right hand of the Most High has lost its strength.’
11  I will remember the works of the Lord ♦︎
   and call to mind your wonders of old time.
12  I will meditate on all your works ♦︎
   and ponder your mighty deeds.
13  Your way, O God, is holy; ♦︎
   who is so great a god as our God?
14  You are the God who worked wonders ♦︎
   and declared your power among the peoples.
15  With a mighty arm you redeemed your people, ♦︎
   the children of Jacob and Joseph.
16  The waters saw you, O God;
      the waters saw you and were afraid; ♦︎
   the depths also were troubled.
17  The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; ♦︎
   your arrows flashed on every side;
18  The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
      your lightnings lit up the ground; ♦︎
   the earth trembled and shook.
19  Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters, ♦︎
   but your footsteps were not known.
20  You led your people like sheep ♦︎
   by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Judgement on Corrupt Rulers, Priests, and Prophets

28Ah, the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim,
   and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
   which is on the head of those bloated with rich food, of those overcome with wine!
² See, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;
   like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters;
   with his hand he will hurl them down to the earth.
³ Trampled under foot will be
   the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim.
⁴ And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
   which is on the head of those bloated with rich food,
will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer;
   whoever sees it, eats it up
   as soon as it comes to hand.

⁵ On that day the Lord of hosts will be a garland of glory,
   and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people;
⁶ and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgement,
   and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷ These also reel with wine
   and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
   they are confused with wine,
   they stagger with strong drink;
they err in vision,
   they stumble in giving judgement.
⁸ All tables are covered with filthy vomit;
   no place is clean.

⁹ ‘Whom will he teach knowledge,
   and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk,
   those taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
   line upon line, line upon line,
   here a little, there a little.’^*

¹¹ Truly, with stammering lip
   and with alien tongue
he will speak to this people,
¹²   to whom he has said,
‘This is rest;
   give rest to the weary;
and this is repose’;
   yet they would not hear.
¹³ Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them,
   ‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
   line upon line, line upon line,
   here a little, there a little’;^*
in order that they may go, and fall backwards,
   and be broken, and snared, and taken.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home^* of God is among mortals.
He will dwell^* with them;
they will be his peoples,^*
and God himself will be with them;^*
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ ⁶Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. ⁷Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸But as for the cowardly, the faithless,^* the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.’