Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
O Lord, Do Not Delay
To the choirmaster. Of David, (A)for the memorial offering.
70 (B)Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour
who delight in my hurt!
3 Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
4 May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy;
(C)hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
Israel's Guilt and Punishment
3 (A)Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
2 (B)“You only have I known
of all the families of the earth;
(C)therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.
3 “Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed to meet?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from his den,
if he has taken nothing?
5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,
when there is no trap for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when it has taken nothing?
6 (D)Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
(E)Does disaster come to a city,
unless the Lord has done it?
7 “For the Lord God does nothing
(F)without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
(G)The Lord God has spoken;
who can but prophesy?”
9 Proclaim to the strongholds in (H)Ashdod
and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on (I)the mountains of Samaria,
and see the great tumults within her,
and (J)the oppressed in her midst.”
10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord,
(K)“those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”
11 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
(L)“An adversary shall surround the land
and bring down[a] your defences from you,
and (M)your strongholds shall be plundered.”
12 Thus says the Lord: (N)“As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, (O)so shall the people of Israel (P)who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part[b] of a bed.
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from (A)the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release (B)the four angels who are bound at (C)the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released (D)to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of (E)mounted troops was (F)twice ten thousand times ten thousand; (G)I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the colour of fire and of sapphire[a] and of sulphur, and the heads of the horses were (H)like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulphur coming 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 with heads, and by means of them they wound.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, (I)did not repent of (J)the works of their hands nor give up worshipping (K)demons (L)and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their (M)sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.