Old Testament: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

¹⁸My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. ¹⁹Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?”) ²⁰“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” ²¹For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. ²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

¹O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

Psalm: Psalm 79:1-9

¹ O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance;
   they have profaned your holy temple; *
         they have made Jerusalem a heap of rubble.
² They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the
                             birds of the air, *
        and the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts
                             of the field.
³ They have shed their blood like water on every side
                             of Jerusalem, *
        and there was no one to bury them.
⁴ We have become a reproach to our neighbors, *
        an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
⁵ How long will you be angry, O Lord? *
        will your fury blaze like fire for ever?
⁶ Pour out your wrath upon the heathen who have not
                            known you *
        and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon
                            your Name.
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob *
        and made his dwelling a ruin.
⁸ Remember not our past sins;
  let your compassion be swift to meet us; *
        for we have been brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your Name; *
        deliver us and forgive us our sins, for your Name’s sake.

Old Testament: Amos 8:4-7

⁴Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, ⁵saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, ⁶buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” ⁷The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

Psalm: Psalm 113

¹ Hallelujah!
  Give praise, you servants of the Lord; *
        praise the Name of the Lord.
² Let the Name of the Lord be blessed, *
        from this time forth for evermore.
³ From the rising of the sun to its going down *
        let the Name of the Lord be praised.
⁴ The Lord is high above all nations, *
        and his glory above the heavens.
⁵ Who is like the Lord our God, who sits enthroned on high *
        but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?
⁶ He takes up the weak out of the dust *
        and lifts up the poor from the ashes.
⁷ He sets them with the princes, *
        with the princes of his people.
⁸ He makes the woman of a childless house *
        to be a joyful mother of children.