Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 70
Hurry to Save Me
(Psalm 40:13-17)
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For the choir director. By David. To bring to remembrance.
Hurry to Help Me
1 Hurry, God! Rescue me!
Lord, hurry to help me!
2 May those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace.
May all who desire to harm me be turned back and disgraced.
3 May those who say, “Aha! We got you!” be dismayed,
because they have been put to shame.
4 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
May those who love your salvation always say, “Let God be exalted!”
5 Yet I am oppressed and poor.
God, hurry to me. You are my help and my deliverer.
O Lord, do not delay.
1 The words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders[a] from Tekoa. He saw a vision concerning Israel during the days of Uzziah king of Judah and during the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 He said:
The Lord roars from Zion.
From Jerusalem he sends out his voice.
The pastures of the shepherds dry up,[b]
and the top of Mount Carmel withers.
Judgment Against Aram
3 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins[c] of Damascus,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they cut up Gilead with iron threshing boards.[d]
4 So I will send fire against the house of Hazael,
and it will consume the fortresses of Ben Hadad.
5 I will break the bars of the gates of Damascus,
and I will cut off the one seated in the Valley of Aven,
and the one who holds a scepter in Beth Eden.[e]
So the people of Aram will go into exile toward Kir.[f]
The Lord has spoken.
Judgment Against Philistia
6 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Gaza,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they sold an entire population into exile,
handing them over to Edom.
7 So I will send fire against the city wall of Gaza,
and it will consume her citadels.
8 I will cut off the one seated in Ashdod,
and the one who holds a scepter in Ashkelon.
I will also turn my hand against Ekron,
and what is left of the Philistines will perish.
The Lord God has spoken.
Judgment Against Canaan
9 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Tyre,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they delivered over an entire population and exiled them to Edom,
and they did not remember a treaty of brotherhood.
10 So I will send fire against the city wall of Tyre,
and it will consume her citadels.
Judgment Against Edom
11 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Edom,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because he[g] pursued his brother with a sword,
and he had no compassion.[h]
His anger kept tearing Israel apart,
and his fury raged without stopping.
12 So I will send fire against Teman,
and it will consume the citadels of Bozrah.
Judgment Against Ammon
13 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of the Ammonites,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their own territory.
14 So I will ignite a fire against the city wall of Rabbah,
and it will consume her citadels
with a battle cry on the day of war,
with a strong wind on the day of the storm.
15 Then their king will go into exile,
he and his officials together.
The Lord has spoken.
Judgment Against Moab
2 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Moab,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they burned the bones of the king of Edom to make lime.
2 So I will send fire against Moab,
and it will consume the citadels of Kerioth.
Moab will die in an uproar,
with a battle cry, with a blast of a ram’s horn.
3 I will cut off the judge[i] from her midst,
and I will kill all her officials with him.
The Lord has spoken.
Judgment Against Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Judah,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they rejected the law of the Lord,
and they did not keep his statutes.
Their lying idols led them astray,
the idols that their fathers followed.
5 So I will send fire against Judah,
and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.
The First Four Trumpets
6 The seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared to sound them. 7 The first sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, and[a] a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the creatures that live in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a huge star, blazing like a lamp, fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood.[b] Many of the people died from these waters because they had been made bitter.
12 Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, as well as a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them became dark. And there was no light for a third of the day and likewise for the night.
13 Then I looked and I heard a single eagle[c] flying in the middle of the sky, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those whose home is on the earth because of the remaining trumpet blasts of the three angels who are about to sound their trumpets.”
The Fifth Trumpet—The Locusts From Hell
9 Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen out of heaven to the earth, and the key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the pit like the smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given the kind of power that scorpions of the earth have. 4 They were told not to harm the earth’s grass, any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.
5 Indeed, they were not given permission to kill these people but only to torture them for five months. And the pain they cause is like the pain caused by a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 In those days people will seek death but will certainly not find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads were what appeared to be crowns that were like gold. Their faces looked like human faces. 8 They had hair that looked like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates that appeared to be made of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots and horses charging into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers like those of scorpions, and in their tails they had power to hurt people for five months.
11 They have the angel of the abyss over them as their king. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.[d]
12 One woe is past. Look! After these things two more woes are coming.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.