Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 70[a]
Insistent Prayer for Divine Assistance
1 For the director.[b] Of David. For remembrance.
2 [c]Make haste, O God, to rescue me;
O Lord, come quickly to my aid.
3 [d]May all those who seek to take my life
endure shame and confusion.
May all those who desire my ruin
be turned back and humiliated.
4 May those who cry out to me, “Aha! Aha!”[e]
be forced to retreat in shame.
5 But may all who seek you
rejoice in you and be jubilant.
May those who love your salvation
cry out forever, “May God be magnified.”[f]
6 As for me, I am poor and needy;[g]
hasten to my aid, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Charges against Israel
Chapter 3
The First Word. 1 O men of Israel, hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
2 Of all the families of the earth,
you alone have I favored.
That is why I will punish you
for all your iniquities.
The Lord Speaks: Who Would Not Prophesy?
3 Do two people travel together
unless they have first agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from its den
unless it has caught something?
5 Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth
unless a trap has been set for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground
unless something has been caught in it?
6 Are people not alarmed
if a trumpet sounds in the city?
If disaster strikes a city,
can that occur without the approval of the Lord?[a]
7 Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants, the prophets.
8 The lion roars;
who will not be frightened?
The Lord God has spoken;
who will not prophesy?
Violence and Pillage in Their Palace
9 Proclaim this from the
palaces of Ashdod
and from the palaces of the land of Egypt:
“Assemble on the hills of Samaria
and observe the great disorders there,
as well as the oppression in her midst.”
10 For they do not know how to do what is right,
says the Lord,
as they store up in their palaces
their ill-gotten gains from violence and robbery.
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord God has to say:
An enemy shall surround your land;
he will tear down your strongholds
and pillage your palaces.
12 The Lord says further:
As the shepherd rescues from the jaws of a lion
two legs or the tip of an ear,
so will the Israelites who live in Samaria be rescued
with the corner of a couch or the edge of a cot.
13 The Sixth Trumpet: the Second Woe.[a] Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice[b] emanating from the horns of the gold altar that stood in the presence of God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who was holding the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 And so the four angels, who had been held in readiness for this very hour, day, month, and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.[c] 16 The number of their cavalry troops was two hundred million. This was the number I heard.
17 This is how I saw the horses and their riders in my vision. The riders wore breastplates in shades of red, blue, and yellow. The heads of the horses were like heads of lions, and issuing forth from their mouths were fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 By these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that poured forth from their mouths, a third of mankind was killed. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails were like serpents, with heads that inflicted harm.
20 However, the rest of mankind who survived these plagues did not repent of the work of their hands or cease their worship of demons[d] and of idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their sorcery, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.
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