Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 70
To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David, to bring to remembrance or make memorial.
1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord!
2 Let them be put to shame and confounded that seek and demand my life; let them be turned backward and brought to confusion and dishonor who desire and delight in my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back and appalled because of their shame and disgrace who say, Aha, aha!
4 May all those who seek, inquire of and for You, and require You [as their vital need] rejoice and be glad in You; and may those who love Your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified!
5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my Help and my Deliverer; O Lord, do not tarry!
1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen and sheep masters of Tekoa, which he saw [in divine revelation] concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.(A)
2 And he said, The Lord roars out of Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem; then the pastures of the shepherds mourn and the top of [Mount] Carmel dries up.(B)
3 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus [the capital of Syria] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because they have threshed Gilead [east of the Jordan River] with iron sledges.(C)
4 So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon the house of Hazael [who killed and succeeded King Ben-hadad] which shall devour the palaces and strongholds of Ben-hadad.
5 I will break also the bar [of the gate] of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven or On, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria [conquered by the Assyrians] shall go into exile to Kir, says the Lord.(D)
6 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza [a city in Philistia] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because [as slave traders] they carried away captive the whole [Jewish] population [of defenseless Judean border villages, of which none was spared, none left behind] and delivered them up to Edom [for the slave trade].(E)
7 So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza which shall devour its strongholds.
8 And I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn My hand against Ekron; and the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall perish, says the Lord God.(F)
9 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because they [as middlemen] delivered up a whole [Jewish] population to Edom and did not [seriously] remember their brotherly covenant.(G)
10 So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre which shall devour its strongholds.
11 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom [descendants of Esau] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword, corrupting his compassions and casting off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually and his wrath he kept and heeded forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah [in Edom].
13 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon [descendants of Lot] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because [the Ammonites] have ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.
14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah [in Ammon] and it shall devour the strongholds of it, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
15 And their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord.
2 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab [descendants of Lot] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau’s descendant] into lime.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, shouting, and the sound of the trumpet.
3 And I will cut off the ruler from its midst and will slay all its princes with him, says the Lord.
4 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because they have despised and rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept His commandments, but their lies, after which their fathers have walked, caused them to err and go astray.
5 So I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7 The first angel blew [his] trumpet, and there was a storm of hail and fire mingled with blood cast upon the earth. And a third part of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees was burned up and all the green grass was burned up.(A)
8 The second angel blew [his] trumpet, and something resembling a great mountain, blazing with fire, was hurled into the sea.(B)
9 And a third of the sea was turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea perished, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew [his] trumpet, and a huge star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it dropped on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—
11 And the name of the star is Wormwood. A third part of the waters was changed into wormwood, and many people died from using the water, because it had become bitter.
12 Then the fourth angel blew [his] trumpet, and a third of the sun was smitten, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that [the light of] a third of them was darkened, and a third of the daylight [itself] was withdrawn, and likewise a third [of the light] of the night was kept from shining.
13 Then I [looked and I] saw a solitary eagle flying in midheaven, and as it flew I heard it crying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the rest of the trumpet blasts which the three angels are about to sound!
9 Then the fifth angel blew [his] trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth; and to the angel was given the key [a]of the shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit).
2 He opened the [b]long shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit), and smoke like the smoke of a huge furnace puffed out of the [c]long shaft, so that the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the long shaft.(C)
3 Then out of the smoke locusts came forth on the earth, and such power was granted them as the power the earth’s scorpions have.(D)
4 They were told not to injure the herbage of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only [to attack] such human beings as do not have the seal (mark) of God on their foreheads.(E)
5 They were not permitted to kill them, but to torment (distress, vex) them for five months; and the pain caused them was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a person.
6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will yearn to die, but death evades and flees from them.(F)
7 The locusts resembled horses equipped for battle. On their heads was something like golden crowns. Their faces resembled the faces of people.(G)
8 They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.(H)
9 Their breastplates (scales) resembled breastplates made of iron, and the [whirring] noise made by their wings was like the roar of a vast number of horse-drawn chariots going at full speed into battle.(I)
10 They have tails like scorpions, and they have stings, and in their tails lies their ability to hurt men for [the] five months.
11 Over them as king they have the angel of the Abyss (of the bottomless pit). In Hebrew his name is Abaddon [destruction], but in Greek he is called Apollyon [destroyer].
12 The first woe (calamity) has passed; behold, two others are yet to follow.
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