Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God Is Forever—Man’s Short Life

90 Lord, You have been the place of comfort for all people of all time. ² Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, forever and ever, You are God.

³ You change man into dust again, and say, “Return, O children of men.” ⁴ For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday when it passes by, or like the hours of the night. ⁵ You carry men away as with a flood. They fall asleep. In the morning they are like the new grass that grows. ⁶ It grows well in the morning, but dries up and dies by evening.

⁷ For we are burned up by Your anger. By Your anger we are troubled and afraid. ⁸ You have set our wrong-doing before You, our secret sins in the light of Your face.

⁹ For all our days pass away in Your anger. We finish our years with a quiet cry. ¹⁰ The days of our life are seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength. Yet the best of them are only hard work and sorrow. For they are soon gone and we fly away. ¹¹ Who understands the power of Your anger? Your anger is as great as the fear that we should have for You.

¹² Teach us to understand how many days we have. Then we will have a heart of wisdom to give You.

The End Has Come for Israel

7 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, this is what the Lord God says to the land of Israel: ‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. ³ Now the end is upon you. I will send My anger against you and punish you because of your ways. I will make you pay for all your sinful actions. ⁴ My eye will have no pity on you. And I will not let you go without punishment. I will punish you for your ways, and for the hated sins that are among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord!’

⁵ “The Lord God says, ‘See, much trouble is coming! ⁶ An end has come! The end has come! It has come up against you. See, it has come! ⁷ Your punishment has come upon you, O you who live in the land. The time has come. The day is near. The sound of trouble and not of joy is upon the mountains. ⁸ Now I will soon pour out My anger upon you. I will send My anger against you. I will punish you for your ways and for the hated sins that are among you. ⁹ My eye will show no pity, and I will not let you go without punishment. I will make you pay for your ways, and for the hated sins that are among you. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, Who punishes you.

The Fourth Jar—Burning Heat

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the sun. It was allowed to burn men with its fire. ⁹ Men were burned with the heat of this fire and they called God bad names even when He had the power over these kinds of trouble. They were not sorry for their sins and did not turn from them and honor Him.

The Fifth Jar—Darkness

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger upon the throne of the wild animal. The whole nation of the wild animal was turned into darkness. Those who worshiped him bit their tongues because of the pain. ¹¹ They called the God of heaven bad names because of their pain and their sores. They were not sorry for what they had done.

The Sixth Jar—the Euphrates River Dries Up

¹² The sixth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the great Euphrates River. The water dried up. In this way, the kings of the countries of the east could cross over. ¹³ Then I saw three demons that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouths of the dragon and the second wild animal and the false preacher. ¹⁴ These are demons that do powerful works. These demons go to all the kings of all the earth. They bring them together for the war of the great day of the All-powerful God.

¹⁵ (See! I will come like a robber. The man is happy who stays awake and keeps his clothes ready. He will not be walking around without clothes and be ashamed.) ¹⁶ Then the demons brought the kings together in the place called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.

The Seventh Jar—the Earth Shakes and Hail Falls

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his jar of God’s anger into the air. A loud voice came from the throne in the house of God, saying, “It is all done!” ¹⁸ Then there were voices and lightning and thunder and the earth shook. The earth shook much more than it had ever shaken before. ¹⁹ The big and strong city of Babylon was split in three parts. The cities of other nations fell to the ground. Then God remembered the strong city of Babylon. He made her drink the wine from His cup of much anger. ²⁰ Every island went down into the sea. No mountain could be found. ²¹ Large pieces of hail fell from heaven on men. These pieces were about as heavy as an older child. But men called God bad names because of so much trouble from the hail.