Prayer for Mercy
15 nLook down from heaven and see,
from your holy and beautiful1 habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
are held back from me.
16 For 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.
17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
and oharden our heart, so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
18 Your holy people held possession for a little while;2
our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
like those who are not called by your name.
1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and pcome down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 3 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From of old qno one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?4
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have rhidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in5 the hand of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord, you are our sFather;
we are the tclay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Be not so uterribly angry, O Lord,
and vremember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful6 house,
where our fathers praised you,
whas been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 Will you xrestrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
Judgment and Salvation
1 yI was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that was not called by7 my name.
2 zI spread out my hands all the day
to a arebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3 a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in bgardens
and making offerings on bricks;
4 who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat cpig’s flesh,
and broth of dtainted meat is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me:
“I will not ekeep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their lap
7 both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together,
says the Lord;
because they made offerings fon the mountains
and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
payment for their former deeds.”8
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
41 Now his parents uwent to Jerusalem every year at the vFeast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the wtemple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were xamazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents1 saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you ylooking for me? Did you not know that I must be in zmy Father’s house?”2 50 And they did anot understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature3 and in favor with God and man.
