Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
All the Tribes Are Guilty
3 Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire [a](A)family which [b]He brought up from the land of Egypt:
2 “(B)You only have I [c]chosen among all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will [d](C)punish you for all your iniquities.”
3 Do two men walk together unless they have made an [e]appointment?
4 Does a (D)lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?
Does a young lion [f]growl from his den unless he has captured something?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no [g]bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?
6 If a (E)trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?
If a (F)calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?
7 [h]Surely the Lord [i]God does nothing
Unless He (G)reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.
8 A (H)lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The (I)Lord [j]God has spoken! (J)Who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim on the citadels in (K)Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, “Assemble yourselves on the (L)mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the (M)oppressions in her midst. 10 But they (N)do not know how to do what is right,” declares the Lord, “these who (O)hoard up [k]violence and devastation in their citadels.”
11 Therefore, thus says the Lord God,
“An (P)enemy, even one surrounding the land,
Will pull down your [l]strength from you
And your (Q)citadels will be looted.”
12 Thus says the Lord,
The Sixth Trumpet—Army from the East
13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard [a]a voice from the [b]four (A)horns of the (B)golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the (C)four angels who are bound at the (D)great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were (E)released, so that they would kill a (F)third of [c]mankind. 16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was (G)two hundred million; (H)I heard the number of them. 17 And [d]this is how I saw (I)in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of [e](J)brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and (K)out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and [f](L)brimstone. 18 A (M)third of [g]mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the (N)fire and the smoke and the [h]brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.
20 The rest of [i]mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, (O)did not repent of (P)the works of their hands, so as not to (Q)worship demons, and (R)the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they (S)did not repent of their murders nor of their (T)sorceries nor of their (U)immorality nor of their thefts.
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