Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the choir director; by David; to be kept in mind.
70 Come quickly to rescue me, O God!
Come quickly to help me, O Lord!
2 Let those who seek my life
be confused and put to shame.
Let those who want my downfall
be turned back and disgraced.
3 Let those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be turned back because of their own shame.
4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad because of you.
Let those who love your salvation continually say,
“God is great!”
5 But I am oppressed and needy.
O God, come to me quickly.
You are my help and my savior.
O Lord, do not delay!
1 These are the words of Amos, one of the sheep farmers from Tekoa. He saw ⌞a vision⌟ about Israel during the reigns of Judah’s King Uzziah and Israel’s King Jeroboam, son of Joash. This happened two years before the earthquake.
2 He said:
The Lord roars from Zion,
and his voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The pastures of the shepherds are turning brown,
and the top of ⌞Mount⌟ Carmel is dried up.
Damascus Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
3 This is what the Lord says:
Because Damascus has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Arameans have crushed ⌞the people of⌟ Gilead
with iron-spiked threshing [a] sledges.
4 I will send a fire on the house of Hazael
and burn down the palaces of Ben Hadad.
5 I will break the bars ⌞on the gates⌟ of Damascus.
I will cut off those living in Aven Valley
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into captivity at Kir.
The Lord has said this.
Gaza Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
6 This is what the Lord says:
Because Gaza has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Philistines have taken all the people captive
in order to hand them over to the Edomites.
7 I will send a fire on the walls of Gaza
and burn down its palaces.
8 I will cut off those living in Ashdod
and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my power against Ekron.
The rest of the Philistines will die.
The Almighty Lord has said this.
Tyre Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
9 This is what the Lord says:
Because Tyre has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Tyrians have handed all the people over to the Edomites.
The Tyrians didn’t remember their treaty with their relatives.
10 I will send a fire on the walls of Tyre
and burn down its palaces.
Edom Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
11 This is what the Lord says:
Because Edom has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Edomites pursued their relatives with swords.
They refused to show any compassion to them.
Their anger was unstoppable.
They refused to control their fury.
12 I will send a fire on Teman
and burn down the palaces of Bozrah.
Ammon Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
13 This is what the Lord says:
Because Ammon has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Ammonites enlarged their territory
by ripping open pregnant women in Gilead.
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
and burn down its palaces
while troops are shouting on the day of battle
and winds are howling on the day of the storm.
15 Their king will go into captivity along with his officials.
The Lord has said this.
Moab Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
2 This is what the Lord says:
Because Moab has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Moabites have cremated Edom’s king.
2 I will send a fire on Moab
and burn down the palaces of Kerioth.
Moab will die during the noise of battle
while troops are shouting and rams’ horns are blowing.
3 I will take their judges away from them.
I will kill all their officials at the same time.
The Lord has said this.
Judah Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
4 This is what the Lord says:
Because Judah has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The people of Judah have rejected the Lord’s Teachings
and haven’t kept his laws.
They have been led astray by false teachings,
the same ones their ancestors followed.
5 I will send a fire on Judah
and burn down the palaces of Jerusalem.
6 The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them.
The First Four Angels Blow Their Trumpets
7 When the first angel blew his trumpet, hail and fire were mixed with blood, and were thrown on the earth. One-third of the earth was burned up, one-third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the sea turned into blood, 9 one-third of the creatures that were living in the sea died, and one-third of the ships were destroyed.
10 When the third angel blew his trumpet, a huge star flaming like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs. 11 That star was named Wormwood. One-third of the water turned into wormwood, and many people died from this water because it had turned bitter.
12 When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, one-third of the sun, one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars were struck so that one-third of them turned dark. There was no light for one-third of the day and one-third of the night.
13 I saw an eagle flying overhead, and I heard it say in a loud voice, “Catastrophe, catastrophe, catastrophe for those living on earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts which the three angels are about to blow.”
The Fifth and Sixth Angels Blow Their Trumpets
9 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The smoke darkened the sun and the air. 3 Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like the power of earthly scorpions. 4 They were told not to harm any grass, green plant, or tree on the earth. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them. They were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion’s sting. 6 At that time people will look for death and never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They seemed to have crowns that looked like gold on their heads. Their faces were like human faces. 8 They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like iron. The noise from their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. 10 They had tails and stingers like scorpions. They had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months. 11 The king who ruled them was the angel from the bottomless pit. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
12 The first catastrophe is over. After these things there are two more catastrophes yet to come.
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