^(H)“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body have you prepared for me;
⁶ in burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you have taken no pleasure.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

^16 (T)“This is the covenant that I will make with them
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
    and write them on their minds,”

^(U)“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

^(BH)“Yet a little while,
    and ^(BI)the coming one will come and will not delay;
^38 (BJ)but my righteous one shall live by faith,
    and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”

⁴ Blessed is the man who ^(I)makes
    the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
    to those who ^(J)go astray after a lie!
⁵ You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your ^(K)wondrous deeds and your ^(L)thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
    yet they are ^(M)more than can be told.

^6 (N)In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
    but you have given me an open ^(O)ear.^[a]
Burnt offering and sin offering
    you have not required.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
    in the scroll of the book it is written ^(P)of me:
^8 (Q)I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is ^(R)within my heart.”

⁹ I have told the glad news of deliverance^[b]
    in ^(S)the great congregation;
behold, I have not ^(T)restrained my lips,
    ^(U)as you know, O Lord.
¹⁰ I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.

¹¹ As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
    your mercy from me;
your ^(V)steadfast love and your faithfulness will
    ever preserve me!
¹² For evils have ^(W)encompassed me
    beyond number;
my ^(X)iniquities have overtaken me,
    and I cannot ^(Y)see;
they are ^(Z)more than the hairs of my head;
    my heart ^(AA)fails me.

^13 (AB)Be pleased, O Lord, to ^(AC)deliver me!
    O Lord, ^(AD)make haste to help me!
^14 (AE)Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be ^(AF)turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
¹⁵ Let those be appalled because of their shame
    who ^(AG)say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

¹⁶ But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
    ^(AH)say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
¹⁷ As for me, I am ^(AI)poor and needy,
    but ^(AJ)the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    do not delay, O my God!

² Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness;
^(C)when Israel sought for rest,
³     the Lord appeared to him^[a] from far away.
^(D)I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore ^(E)I have continued ^(F)my faithfulness to you.
^4 (G)Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
    O virgin Israel!
^(H)Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
    and shall go forth in ^(I)the dance of the merrymakers.
^5 (J)Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶ For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
    in ^(K)the hill country of Ephraim:
^(L)‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”

⁷ For thus says the Lord:
^(M)“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for ^(N)the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    ^(O)‘O Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
⁸ Behold, I will bring them ^(P)from the north country
    and ^(Q)gather them from ^(R)the farthest parts of the earth,
among them ^(S)the blind and the lame,
    the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
    a great company, they shall return here.
^9 (T)With weeping they shall come,
    ^(U)and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them ^(V)walk by brooks of water,
    ^(W)in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for ^(X)I am a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is ^(Y)my firstborn.

¹⁰ “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will ^(Z)gather him,
    and will keep him ^(AA)as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
^11 (AB)For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from ^(AC)hands too strong for him.
¹² They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    ^(AD)and they shall be radiant ^(AE)over the goodness of the Lord,
^(AF)over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
^(AG)their life shall be like a watered garden,
    ^(AH)and they shall languish no more.
^13 (AI)Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
^(AJ)I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
^14 (AK)I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”

¹⁵ Thus says the Lord:
^(AL)“A voice is heard in ^(AM)Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
^(AN)Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    ^(AO)because they are no more.”

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(AP)they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
^17 (AQ)There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
¹⁸ I have heard ^(AR)Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
^(AS)bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹ For after ^(AT)I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, ^(AU)I struck my thigh;
^(AV)I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
^20 (AW)Is Ephraim my dear son?
    ^(AX)Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
    I do remember him still.
^(AY)Therefore my heart^[b] yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.

^21 (AZ)“Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
^(BA)consider well the highway,
    ^(BB)the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.
^22 (BC)How long will you waver,
    ^(BD)O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encircles a man.”

^(BF)“‘The Lord bless you, ^(BG)O habitation of righteousness,
    ^(BH)O holy hill!’

^(BS)“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

³⁵ Thus says the Lord,
who ^(CG)gives the sun for light by day
    and ^(CH)the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    ^(CI)the Lord of hosts is his name:
^36 (CJ)“If this fixed order departs
    from before me, declares the Lord,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
    from being a nation before me forever.”

³⁷ Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
    and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
^(CK)then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
    for all that they have done,
declares the Lord.”

32 “Give ear, ^(A)O heavens, and I will speak,
    and let ^(B)the earth hear the words of my mouth.
² May ^(C)my teaching drop as the rain,
    my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
    and ^(D)like showers upon the herb.
³ For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
    ascribe ^(E)greatness to our God!

^4 (F)“The Rock, ^(G)his work is perfect,
    for ^(H)all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and ^(I)without iniquity,
    just and upright is he.
⁵ They have dealt corruptly with him;
    they are no longer his children ^(J)because they are blemished;
    they are ^(K)a crooked and twisted generation.
⁶ Do you thus repay the Lord,
    you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he ^(L)your father, who ^(M)created you,
    who ^(N)made you and established you?
^7 (O)Remember the days of old;
    consider the years of many generations;
^(P)ask your father, and he will show you,
    your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸ When the Most High ^(Q)gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he ^(R)divided mankind,
he fixed the borders^[a] of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.^[b]
9 But the Lord's portion is his people,
    Jacob his allotted heritage.

¹⁰ “He found him ^(S)in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he ^(T)encircled him, he cared for him,
    he ^(U)kept him as the apple of his eye.
^11 (V)Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
    that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
    bearing them on its pinions,
^12 (W)the Lord alone guided him,
    ^(X)no foreign god was with him.
^13 (Y)He made him ride on the high places of the land,
    and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with ^(Z)honey out of the rock,
    and ^(AA)oil out of ^(AB)the flinty rock.
¹⁴ Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat^[c] of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
    with the very finest^[d] of the wheat—
    and you drank foaming wine made from ^(AC)the blood of the grape.

¹⁵ “But ^(AD)Jeshurun grew fat, and ^(AE)kicked;
    ^(AF)you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
^(AG)then he forsook God ^(AH)who made him
    and scoffed at ^(AI)the Rock of his salvation.
^16 (AJ)They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
^17 (AK)They sacrificed to demons that were not God,
    to gods they had never known,
to ^(AL)new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
¹⁸ You were unmindful of ^(AM)the Rock that bore^[e] you,
    and you ^(AN)forgot the God who gave you birth.

^19 (AO)“The Lord saw it and spurned them,
    because of the provocation of ^(AP)his sons and his daughters.
²⁰ And he said, ^(AQ)‘I will hide my face from them;
    I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
    children in whom is no faithfulness.
^21 (AR)They have made me jealous with what is no god;
    they have provoked me to anger ^(AS)with their idols.
So ^(AT)I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
    I will provoke them to anger with ^(AU)a foolish nation.
²² For ^(AV)a fire is kindled by my anger,
    and it burns to ^(AW)the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
    and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³ “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
    ^(AX)I will spend my arrows on them;
²⁴ they shall be wasted with hunger,
    and devoured by plague
    and poisonous pestilence;
I will send ^(AY)the teeth of beasts against them,
    with the venom of ^(AZ)things that crawl in the dust.
^25 (BA)Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
    and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
    the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
^26 (BB)I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
    ^(BC)I will wipe them from human memory,”
²⁷ had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
    lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, ^(BD)“Our hand is triumphant,
    it was not the Lord who did all this.”’

²⁸ “For they are a nation void of counsel,
    and there is ^(BE)no understanding in them.
^29 (BF)If they were wise, they would understand this;
    they would ^(BG)discern their latter end!
³⁰ How could ^(BH)one have chased a thousand,
    and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock ^(BI)had sold them,
    and the Lord had given them up?
³¹ For ^(BJ)their rock is not as our Rock;
    ^(BK)our enemies are by themselves.
³² For their vine ^(BL)comes from the vine of Sodom
    and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of ^(BM)poison;
    their clusters are bitter;
³³ their wine is the poison of ^(BN)serpents
    and the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴ “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
    ^(BO)sealed up in my treasuries?
^35 (BP)Vengeance is mine, and recompense,^{[f]
    (BQ)}for the time when their foot shall slip;
for ^(BR)the day of their calamity is at hand,
    and their doom comes swiftly.’
³⁶ For ^(BS)the Lord will vindicate^[g] his people
    ^(BT)and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
    and there is none remaining, ^(BU)bond or free.
³⁷ Then he will say, ^(BV)‘Where are their gods,
    ^(BW)the rock in which they took refuge,
³⁸ who ate the fat of their sacrifices
    and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
    let them be your protection!

³⁹ “‘See now that ^(BX)I, even I, am he,
    and there is no god beside me;
^(BY)I kill and I make alive;
    ^(BZ)I wound and I heal;
    and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
⁴⁰ For ^(CA)I lift up my hand to heaven
    and swear, As I live forever,
⁴¹ if I ^(CB)sharpen my flashing sword^[h]
    and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
    and will repay those who hate me.
⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
    and ^(CC)my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
    from the ^(CD)long-haired heads of the enemy.’

^43 (CE)“Rejoice with him, O heavens;^[i]
    bow down to him, all gods,^[j]
for he ^(CF)avenges the blood of his children^[k]
    and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him^[l]
    and cleanses^[m] his people's land.”^[n]

⁵ For I know that ^(I)the Lord is great,
    and that our Lord is above all gods.
^6 (J)Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
    in heaven and on earth,
    in the seas and all deeps.
^7 (K)He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
    who ^(L)makes lightnings for the rain
    and brings forth the wind from his ^(M)storehouses.

⁸ He it was who ^(N)struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
    both of man and of beast;
⁹ who in your midst, O Egypt,
    sent ^(O)signs and wonders
    against Pharaoh and all his servants;
^10 (P)who struck down many nations
    and killed mighty kings,
^11 (Q)Sihon, king of the Amorites,
    and ^(R)Og, king of Bashan,
    and ^(S)all the kingdoms of Canaan,
¹² and ^(T)gave their land as a heritage,
    a heritage to his people Israel.

^13 (U)Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
    ^(V)your renown,^[b] O Lord, throughout all ages.
^14 (W)For the Lord will vindicate his people
    and ^(X)have compassion on his servants.

^15 (Y)The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.
¹⁶ They have mouths, but do not speak;
    they have eyes, but do not see;
¹⁷ they have ears, but do not hear,
    nor is there any breath in their mouths.
¹⁸ Those who make them become like them;
    so do all who trust in them.

^19 (Z)O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
    O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
²⁰ O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
    You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
²¹ Blessed be the Lord ^(AA)from Zion,
    he who ^(AB)dwells in Jerusalem!
^(AC)Praise the Lord!