Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 70

A Call for Deliverance

For the choir director. Davidic. To bring remembrance.^(A)

1 The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders^[a](A) from Tekoa^(B)—what he saw regarding Israel in the days of Uzziah,^(C) king of Judah, and Jeroboam^(D) son of Jehoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.^(E)

² He said:

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

³ The Lord says:

⁶ The Lord says:

⁹ The Lord says:

¹¹ The Lord says:

¹³ The Lord says:

2 The Lord says:

Judgment on Judah

⁴ The Lord says:

⁶ And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The First Trumpet

⁷ The first angel^[a] blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The Second Trumpet

⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea.^(A) So a third of the sea became blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The Third Trumpet

¹⁰ The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven.^(B) It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.

The Fourth Trumpet

¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light, and the night as well.^(C)

¹³ I looked again and heard an eagle^[b] flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe!^(D) Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”

The Fifth Trumpet

9 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.^(E) The key to the shaft of the abyss^(F) was given to him. ² He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great^[c] furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power^[d] was given to them^(G) like the power that scorpions have on the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶ In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷ The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle.^(H) Something like gold crowns was on their heads; their faces were like men’s faces; ⁸ they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth;^{(I) 9} they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle; ¹⁰ and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power^[e] to harm people for five months. ¹¹ They had as their king^[f] the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,^[g] and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.^{[h] 12} The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.