The Lord's Day of Vengeance

¹Who is this who comes from Edom,

in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,

he who is splendid in his apparel,

marching in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I, speaking in righteousness,

mighty to save.”

²Why is your apparel red,

and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?

³“I have trodden the winepress alone,

and from the peoples no one was with me;

I trod them in my anger

and trampled them in my wrath;

their lifeblood1 spattered on my garments,

and stained all my apparel.

⁴For the day of vengeance was in my heart,

and my year of redemption2 had come.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help;

I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;

so my own arm brought me salvation,

and my wrath upheld me.

⁶I trampled down the peoples in my anger;

I made them drunk in my wrath,

and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

The Lord's Mercy Remembered

⁷I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,

the praises of the Lord,

according to all that the Lord has granted us,

and the great goodness to the house of Israel

that he has granted them according to his compassion,

according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

⁸For he said, “Surely they are my people,

children who will not deal falsely.”

And he became their Savior.

⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted,3

and the angel of his presence saved them;

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰But they rebelled

and grieved his Holy Spirit;

therefore he turned to be their enemy,

and himself fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old,

of Moses and his people.4

Where is he who brought them up out of the sea

with the shepherds of his flock?

Where is he who put in the midst of them

his Holy Spirit,

¹²who caused his glorious arm

to go at the right hand of Moses,

who divided the waters before them

to make for himself an everlasting name,

¹³who led them through the depths?

Like a horse in the desert,

they did not stumble.

¹⁴Like livestock that go down into the valley,

the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.

So you led your people,

to make for yourself a glorious name.

Prayer for Mercy

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see,

from your holy and beautiful5 habitation.

Where are your zeal and your might?

The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion

are held back from me.

¹⁶For you are our Father,

though Abraham does not know us,

and Israel does not acknowledge us;

you, O Lord, are our Father,

our Redeemer from of old is your name.

¹⁷O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways

and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your heritage.

¹⁸Your holy people held possession for a little while;6

our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.

¹⁹We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,

like those who are not called by your name.