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Psalm 123

1  To you I lift up my eyes, ♦︎
   to you that are enthroned in the heavens.
2  As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, ♦︎
   or the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
3  So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, ♦︎
   until he have mercy upon us.
4  Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, ♦︎
   for we have had more than enough of contempt.
5  Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of the arrogant, ♦︎
   and of the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 130

1  Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord;
      Lord, hear my voice; ♦︎
   let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
2  If you, Lord, were to mark what is done amiss, ♦︎
   O Lord, who could stand?
3  But there is forgiveness with you, ♦︎
   so that you shall be feared.
4  I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; ♦︎
   in his word is my hope.
5  My soul waits for the Lord,
      more than the night watch for the morning, ♦︎
   more than the night watch for the morning.
6  O Israel, wait for the Lord, ♦︎
   for with the Lord there is mercy;
7  With him is plenteous redemption ♦︎
   and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. ¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. ¹³Then Isaiah^* said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman^* is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.^{* 15}He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. ¹⁷The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.’

18 On that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes, and on all the pastures.

20 On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.

21 On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, ²²and will eat curds because of the abundance of milk that they give; for everyone that is left in the land shall eat curds and honey.

23 On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. ²⁴With bow and arrows one will go there, for all the land will be briers and thorns; ²⁵and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

27 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. ²⁸So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, ³⁰and you say, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” ³¹Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³²Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. ³³You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?^{* 34}Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, ³⁵so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.

The Lament over Jerusalem

37 ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ³⁸See, your house is left to you, desolate.^{* 39}For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’