Book of Common Prayer

Locust attack

9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star falling from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the shaft which leads down to the Abyss. ² The shaft of the Abyss was opened, and smoke came out of the pit like the smoke from a great furnace. The sun and the air became dark with the smoke from the pit. ³ Then, out of that smoke, there appeared locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions on the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, nor any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were given instructions not to kill them, but to torture them for five months, and their torture was like the torture inflicted by the sting of a scorpion. ⁶ In those days people will look for death, and won’t find it. They will long to die, and death will run away from them.

⁷ In appearance, the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what seemed to be crowns of gold on their heads, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails like scorpions’ tails, and stings as well, and their tails have the power to harm people for five months. ¹¹ They have as their king the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and whose name in Greek is Apollyon.

¹² The first Woe has come and gone. The next two Woes are on the way after this.

The parable of the good Samaritan

²⁵ A lawyer got up and put Jesus on the spot.

“Teacher,” he said, “what should I do to inherit the life of the coming age?”

²⁶ “Well,” replied Jesus, “what is written in the law? What’s your interpretation of it?”

²⁷ “You shall love the Lord your God,” he replied, “with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁸ “Well said!” replied Jesus. “Do that and you will live.”

²⁹ “Ah,” said the lawyer, wanting to win the point, “but who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ Jesus rose to the challenge. “Once upon a time,” he said, “a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was set upon by brigands. They stripped him and beat him and ran off leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down that road, and when he saw him he went past on the opposite side. ³² So too a Levite came by the place; he saw him too, and went past on the opposite side.

³³ “But a traveling Samaritan came to where he was. When he saw him he was filled with pity. ³⁴ He came over to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Then he put him on his own beast, took him to an inn, and looked after him. ³⁵ The next morning, as he was going on his way, he gave the innkeeper two dinars. ‘Take care of him,’ he said, ‘and on my way back I’ll pay you whatever else you need to spend on him.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think turned out to be the neighbor of the man who was set upon by the brigands?”

³⁷ “The one who showed mercy on him,” came the reply.

“Well,” Jesus said to him, “you go and do the same.”