Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Music director. Davidic. As a memorial.
A Call for Help
70 God, come to my rescue.
Lord, hurry to help me.
2 May those who seek to kill me be publicly humiliated.
May those who take pleasure in my harm
be turned back in humiliation.
3 May those who say “Aha! Aha!”
be turned back because of their shameful deeds.[a]
4 Let those who seek you greatly rejoice in you.
Let those who love your deliverance say,
“May God be continuously exalted.”
5 As for me, I am poor and needy.
God, come quickly to me.
You are my helper and my deliverer.
Lord, please do not delay.
Amos is Called to Prophesy
1 The words of Amos,[a] who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he spoke[b] concerning Israel during the reign of[c] Uzziah, king of Judah and during the reign of[d] Joash’s son Jeroboam, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 He said, “From Zion the Lord roars,
and from Jerusalem he shouts aloud.
The shepherds’ pastures will languish,
and Carmel’s summit will wither.”
A Warning to Damascus
3 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Damascus
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they have trampled down[e] Gilead
with ironclad threshing sleds.
4 So I will send down fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
5 I will shatter the gate bars of Damascus,
and I will cut off the residents of the Aven Valley,
along with the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden;
and the people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,”
says the Lord.
A Warning to Gaza
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Gaza
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they exiled the entire population,
delivering them to Edom.
7 So I will send down fire upon the wall of Gaza,
and it will devour their fortified citadels;
8 and I will cut off the inhabitants of Ashdod,
along with Ashkelon’s ruler.[f]
I will turn to attack[g] Ekron,
and the rest of the Philistines will die,”
says the Lord God.
A Warning to Tyre
9 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Tyre
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they delivered the entire population to Edom,
and did not remember their covenant with their relatives.[h]
10 So I will send down fire upon the wall of Tyre,
and it will devour their fortified citadels.”
A Warning to Edom
11 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Edom
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because he[i] pursued his brother with a sword,
refusing to be compassionate.[j]
His anger was raging[k] continuously;
he kept up his unending wrath.
12 So I will send down fire upon Teman,
and it will devour the fortified citadels of Bozrah.”
A Warning to Ammon
13 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of the Ammonites
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
in order to enlarge their national borders.[l]
14 So I will send down fire upon the wall of Rabbah,
and it will devour their fortified citadels
with an alarm sounding in the time of battle,
and with a whirlwind in the time of storm.
15 Their king will go into captivity—
he and his princes together,”
says the Lord.
A Warning to Moab
2 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Moab
because they[m] cremated the bones of the king of Edom,
burning them[n] to lime.
2 So I will send down fire upon Moab,
and it will devour the fortified citadels of Kerioth.
Moab will die in the uproar of battle,[o]
with a war cry
and with the trumpeting of the ram’s horn.
3 I will execute their rulers among them,
killing all of their officials as well,”
says the Lord.
A Warning to Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Judah
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they[p] rejected the Law of the Lord
and did not keep his statutes.
Their own lies made them wander off,
following along the same path their ancestors walked.
5 So I will send down fire upon Judah,
and it will devour the fortified citadels of Jerusalem.”
6 The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them.
The Vision of the First Four Trumpets
7 When the first angel blew his trumpet, hail and fire were mixed with blood and thrown on the earth. One-third of the earth was burned up, one-third of the trees was 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 was destroyed.
10 When the third angel blew his trumpet, a huge star blazing like a torch fell from heaven. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. One-third of the water turned into wormwood, and many people died from the 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. One-third of the day was kept from having light, as was the night.
The Vision of the Eagle Flying
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying overhead say in a loud voice,
“How terrible, how terrible, how terrible
for those living on the earth,
because of the blasts of the remaining trumpets
that the three angels are about to blow!”
The Vision of the Fifth Trumpet
9 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth[a] from the sky.[b] The star[c] was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.[d] 2 It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit,[e] and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like that of earthly scorpions. 4 They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm[f] only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed[g] to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor’s crowns that looked like gold, and 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, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. 10 They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months. 11 They had the angel of the bottomless pit[h] ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon,[i] and in Greek he is called Apollyon.[j]
12 The first catastrophe is over. After these things, there are still two more catastrophes to come.
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