Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

David wrote this song for the music leader, to ask God to help him.

A prayer for help^[a]

The Lord has decided what he will do

3 You Israelites, listen to this message that the Lord speaks against you. This message is to all you people that he saved from Egypt. ² He says, ‘There are many nations of people on the earth. But I chose you alone to belong to me. So I will punish you when you do wrong things.’

The prophet's work

³ If two people travel together, they have first agreed to meet together. ⁴ If a lion roars in the forest, it means that he has killed an animal to eat. A young lion does not shout unless he has caught something.

⁵ If there is no food in a trap, a bird will not fly into it. If the door of the trap closes, it means that it has caught something. ⁶ Also, if the people in a city hear a trumpet's sound, they become very afraid. If bad trouble comes to a city, it means that the Lord has sent it.

⁷ Before the Lord God decides to send trouble, he first tells his prophets about it. ⁸ So now the lion has roared! Everyone should be afraid! The Lord God has spoken, so his prophets must tell his message.

Samaria

⁹ Tell this message now in Ashdod city. Go to the strong cities in Egypt and speak the message there. Say this: ‘Come to the mountains in Samaria. Look at the cruel things that people are doing in Samaria. Many people are afraid.’ ¹⁰ The Lord says, ‘People have forgotten how to be honest. They rob people and they store valuable things in their big houses. They become rich because they are so cruel.’

¹¹ So the Lord God says, ‘Enemies will come to attack your land. They will destroy your strong buildings. They will take all your good things from you.’

¹² The Lord says, ‘When a lion catches a young sheep, the shepherd will try to save as much as he can. He might save only two legs, or a small part of an ear. It will be the same for the Israelites who live in Samaria. They will escape with only a piece of a bed, or a bit of cloth.’

The sixth trumpet

¹³ Then the sixth angel made a sound with his trumpet. I heard a voice that spoke to him from the four corners of the gold altar. This altar is near to God himself. ¹⁴ The voice said to the sixth angel, ‘There are four angels at the great Euphrates river. Someone has tied them so that they cannot move. You must go and undo them!’ ¹⁵ So the four angels now became free. God had kept them ready for that special time, for that hour, in that day, in that month, in that year. They were now ready to kill a third of people everywhere. ¹⁶ I heard how many soldiers there were in their great army. There were 200 million soldiers who rode on horses.

¹⁷ In my vision, I saw the soldiers and their horses. The soldiers had shields over the front of their bodies. The shields had many colours. They were bright red like fire, bright blue, and yellow like sulphur. The horses' heads looked like lions' heads. Fire, smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ The fire, the smoke and the sulphur killed people. These three dangerous things killed a third of people everywhere. ¹⁹ The horses had great power in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails were like snakes, with heads that could hurt people very much.

²⁰ But all the people that the fire, the smoke and the sulphur did not kill continued to do bad things. They did not change how they lived. They worshipped things that they had made for themselves. They worshipped demons and idols that they made from gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. Those idols cannot see anything or hear anything. They cannot walk anywhere. But the people continued to worship them. ²¹ They were not sorry that they murdered other people. They were not sorry that they used magic to hurt people. They continued to have sex with people in wrong ways. They continued to rob other people. They did not want to change the way that they lived.^[a]