Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the director of music. A prayer of David.
70 God, hurry and save me.
Lord, come quickly and help me.
2 Let those who are trying to kill me be put to shame.
Let them not be honored.
Let all those who want to destroy me
be turned back in shame.
3 Some people make fun of me.
Let them be turned back when their plans fail.
4 But let all those who seek you
be joyful and glad because of what you have done.
Let those who want you to save them always say,
“The Lord is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy.
God, come quickly to me.
You are the God who helps me and saves me.
Lord, please don’t wait any longer.
The Lord Calls for Witnesses Against Israel
3 People of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message. He has spoken his message against you. He has spoken it against the whole family he brought up out of Egypt. He says,
2 “Out of all the families on earth
I have chosen only you.
So I will punish you
because you have committed so many sins.”
3 Do two people walk together
unless they’ve agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the bushes
when it doesn’t have any food?
Does it growl in its den
when it hasn’t caught anything?
5 Does a bird fly down to a trap on the ground
when no bait is there?
Does a net spring up from the ground
when it has not caught anything?
6 When someone blows a trumpet in a city,
don’t the people tremble with fear?
When trouble comes to a city,
hasn’t the Lord caused it?
7 The Lord and King never does anything
without telling his servants the prophets about it.
8 A lion has roared.
Who isn’t afraid?
The Lord and King has spoken.
Who can do anything but prophesy?
9 Speak to the people in the forts of Ashdod and Egypt.
Tell them, “Gather together
on the mountains of Samaria.
Look at the great trouble in that city.
Its people are committing many crimes.”
10 “They do not know how to do what is right,”
announces the Lord.
“They store up stolen goods in their forts.”
11 So the Lord and King says,
“Enemies will take over your land.
They will pull down your places of safety.
They will rob your forts.”
12 The Lord says,
“Suppose a shepherd saves only two leg bones
from a lion’s mouth.
Or he might save only a piece of an ear.
That is how the Israelites living in Samaria will be saved.
They will only have a board
from a bed
and a piece of cloth
from a couch.”
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the four corners of the golden altar. The altar stands in front of God. 14 The voice spoke to the sixth angel who had the trumpet. The voice said, “Set the four angels free who are held at the great river Euphrates.” 15 The four angels had been ready for this very hour and day and month and year. They were set free to kill a third of all people. 16 The number of troops on horseback was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision had armor on their chests. It was red like fire, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads. Out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of all people were killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of the horses’ mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails. The tails were like snakes whose heads could bite.
20 There were people who were not killed by these plagues. But they still didn’t turn away from what they had been doing. They did not stop worshiping demons. They kept worshiping statues of gods made out of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. These statues can’t see or hear or walk. 21 The people also did not turn away from their murders, witchcraft, sexual sins and stealing.
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