Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Cry for God to Help Quickly
For the director of music. A psalm of David. ·To help people remember [For remembrance; or For a memorial offering].
70 God, ·come quickly and save [L protect] me.
Lord, hurry to help me.
2 Let those who are ·trying to kill me [L seeking my life]
be ashamed and ·disgraced [scorned; reproached].
Let those who want to hurt me
·run away [L turn back] in disgrace.
3 Let those who ·make fun of me [L say, “Aha, Aha!”]
·stop [withdraw] because of their shame.
4 But let all those who ·worship [L seek] you
rejoice and be glad.
Let those who love your ·salvation [victory]
always say, “·Praise the greatness of [Magnify] God.”
5 I am poor and ·helpless [needy];
God, hurry to me.
You ·help me and save me [L are my helper and my rescuer].
Lord, do not ·wait [delay].
Warning to Israel
3 Listen to this word that the Lord has spoken against you, ·people [L sons; T children] of Israel, against the whole family he brought out of Egypt.
2 “I have ·chosen [known; C selected for a special relationship] only you
out of all the families of the earth,
so I will punish you
for all your sins.”
3 ·Two people will not [L Can two…?] walk together
unless they have agreed ·to do so [or to meet; or on the direction].
4 ·A lion in the forest does not [L Does a lion in the forest…?] roar
unless it has caught ·an animal [L its prey];
·it does not [L does a young lion…?] growl in its den
when it has caught nothing.
5 ·A bird will not [L Does a bird…?] fall into a trap
where there is no bait;
·the trap will not [L does the trap…?] spring shut
if there is nothing to catch.
6 When a trumpet ·blows a warning [L sounds] in a city,
[L do not…?] the people tremble.
When ·trouble [disaster] comes to a city,
·the Lord has [L has not the Lord…?] caused it.
7 Before the Lord God does anything,
he tells his plans to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared [C a symbol of coming judgment]!
Who wouldn’t be afraid?
The Lord God has spoken.
Who will not prophesy?
9 Announce this to the ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces] of Ashdod [C a city in Philistia]
and to the ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces] of Egypt:
“·Come to [Assemble yourselves on] the mountains of Samaria,
where you will see great ·confusion [chaos; tumult]
and ·people hurting others [oppression in her midst].”
10 “The people don’t know how to do what is right,” says the Lord.
“Their ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces] are filled with ·treasures they took by force from others [the spoils of violence and robbery].”
11 So this is what the Lord God says:
“An enemy will ·take over [overrun; or encircle] the land
and pull down your strongholds;
he will ·take the treasures out of [plunder] your ·strong buildings [fortresses; palaces].”
12 This is what the Lord says:
“A shepherd might save from a lion’s mouth
only two leg bones or a scrap of an ear of his sheep.
In the same way only a few Israelites in Samaria will be saved—
·people who now sit on their beds
and on their couches [or only a corner of a bed or a part of a couch will be saved].”
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns [C some ancient manuscripts specify that there are four horns; protrusions on the four corners of the altar symbolizing God’s strength] on the golden altar [C the incense altar; Ex. 30:1–10] that is before God. 14 The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “·Free [Release] the four angels who are ·tied [bound] at the great river Euphrates [7:1].” 15 And they ·let loose [released] the four angels who had been ·kept ready [prepared] for this hour and day and month and year so they could kill a third of ·all people on the earth [L humanity; mankind]. 16 I heard how many troops on horses were in their army—two hundred million.
17 The horses and their riders I saw in the vision looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue [L hyacinth-colored], and yellow like sulfur [brimstone]. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions, with fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 18 A third of ·all the people on earth [humanity; mankind] were killed by these three ·terrible disasters [plagues] coming out of the horses’ mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. 19 The horses’ ·power [authority] was in their mouths and in their tails; their tails were like snakes with heads [12:9; Gen. 3:1–7], and with them they ·hurt [damaged; injured; wounded] people.
20 The ·other [rest of the] people who were not killed by these ·terrible disasters [plagues] still did not ·change their hearts and turn away from what they had made with their own hands [L repent from the works of their hands]. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see or hear or walk [Ps. 115:4–7; 135:17; Jer. 10:1–16]. 21 These people did not ·change their hearts and turn away from [repent of] murder or ·evil magic [sorcery], from their ·sexual sins [fornication] or stealing.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.