Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Help

70 O God, hurry to take me out of trouble. O Lord, hurry to help me! ² Let those who want to kill me be ashamed and brought low. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away in shame. ³ Let those who say, “O, O!” be turned back because of their shame.

⁴ Let all who look for You be full of joy and be glad in You. And let those who love Your saving power always say, “Let God be honored.” ⁵ But I am poor and in need. Hurry to me, O God! You are my help and the One Who takes me out of trouble. O Lord, do not wait.

1 These are the words of Amos, a shepherd of Tekoa, which he received in special dreams about Israel two years before the earth shook. Uzziah was king of Judah then, and Jeroboam the son of Joash was the king of Israel. ² He said, “The Lord makes a loud noise from Zion. He lets His voice be heard from Jerusalem. And the shepherds’ fields are filled with sorrow, and the top of Carmel dries up.”

God Judges Israel’s Neighbors—Syria

³ The Lord says, “For three sins of Damascus and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They have crushed Gilead with tools of sharp iron. ⁴ So I will send fire upon the people of Hazael, and it will destroy the strong-places of Ben-hadad. ⁵ I will break down the gate of Damascus, and destroy the people from the Valley of Aven and the king from Beth-Eden. The people of Syria will be taken away to Kir,” says the Lord.

Philistia

⁶ The Lord says, “For three sins of Gaza and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They took a nation of people away and sold them to Edom. ⁷ So I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it will destroy her strong-places. ⁸ I will destroy the people from Ashdod and the king from Ashkelon. I will send My power against Ekron, and the rest of the Philistines will die,” says the Lord God.

Tyre

⁹ The Lord says, “For three sins of Tyre and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They took a nation of people and sold them to Edom. They did not remember the agreement between brothers. ¹⁰ So I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it will destroy her strong-places.”

Edom

¹¹ The Lord says, “For three sins of Edom and for four, I will not hold back punishment. He went after his brother with the sword and would not have loving-pity. He was always angry, and he held on to his anger forever. ¹² So I will send fire upon Teman, and it will destroy the strong-places of Bozrah.”

Ammon

¹³ The Lord says, “For three sins of Ammon and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They tore open the women of Gilead who were going to have a baby, so that they would get more land. ¹⁴ So I will set a fire on the wall of Rabbah, and it will destroy her strong-places. Then there will be cries of war on the day of battle, and strong winds on the day of the storm. ¹⁵ And their king and his sons will be taken away to a strange land,” says the Lord.

Moab

2 The Lord says, “For three sins of Moab and for four, I will not hold back punishment. He burned the bones of the king of Edom to ashes. ² So I will send fire upon Moab, and it will destroy the strong-places of Kerioth. Moab will die among much noise, with cries of war and the sound of a horn. ³ I will kill the ruler of Moab and all his sons with him,” says the Lord.

Judah

⁴ The Lord says, “For three sins of Judah and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They turned away from the Law of the Lord. They have not obeyed His Laws. They have gone the wrong way, following the lies of their fathers. ⁵ So I will send fire upon Judah, and it will destroy the strong-places of Jerusalem.”

⁶ The seven angels that had the seven horns got ready to blow them.

The First Horn—Hail and Fire

⁷ So the first angel blew his horn. Hail and fire mixed with blood came down on the earth. One-third part of the earth was burned up. One-third part of the trees were burned up. All the green grass was burned up.

The Second Horn—the Burning Mountain

⁸ The second angel blew his horn. Something like a large mountain was burning with fire. It was thrown into the sea. One-third part of the sea turned into blood. ⁹ One-third part of all sea life died. One-third part of all the ships were destroyed.

The Third Horn—the Star of Poison

¹⁰ The third angel blew his horn. A large star fell from heaven. It was burning with a fire that kept burning like a bright light. It fell on one-third part of the rivers and on the places where water comes out of the earth. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood. One-third part of the water became poison. Many men died from drinking the water because it had become poison.

The Fourth Horn—Not As Much Light

¹² The fourth angel blew his horn. One-third part of the sun and one-third part of the moon and one-third part of the stars were hurt. One-third part of them was made dark so that one-third part of the day and night had no light.

¹³ Then I looked and saw a very large bird flying in the sky. It said with a loud voice, “It is bad! It is bad! It is bad for those who live on the earth when the sound comes from the horns that the other three angels will blow!”

The Fifth Horn—the Hole Without a Bottom

9 The fifth angel blew his horn. I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to earth. The key to the hole without a bottom was given to the angel. ² He opened the hole and smoke came out like the smoke from a place where there is much fire. The sun and the air became dark because of the smoke from the hole. ³ Locusts came down to the earth out of the smoke. They were given power to hurt like small animals that sting. ⁴ They were told not to hurt the grass or any green plant or any tree. They were to hurt only the men who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were not allowed to kill these men. They were to give them much pain for five months like the pain that comes from a small animal that stings. ⁶ Men will look for ways to die during those days, but they will not find any way. They will want to die, but death will be kept from them. ⁷ The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had on their heads what looked like crowns of gold. Their faces were like men’s faces. ⁸ Their hair was like the hair of women. Their teeth were like the teeth of lions. ⁹ Their chests were covered with what looked like pieces of iron. The sound their wings made was like the sound of many wagons rushing to war. ¹⁰ They had tails like a small animal that stings. The sting came from their tails. They were given power to hurt men for five months. ¹¹ These locusts have a king over them. He is the head angel of the hole that has no bottom. His name in the Hebrew language is Abbadon. In the Greek language it is Apollyon. (It means the one who destroys.)

¹² The first time of trouble is past. But see, there are two more times of trouble coming after this.