Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Book IV
Psalms 90–106
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, from the very beginning
you have been like a home to us.
2 Before you created the whole world and the mountains were made,
from the beginning to the end you are God.
3 You turn human beings back to dust.
You say to them, “Return to dust.”
4 To you a thousand years
are like a day that has just gone by.
They are like a few hours of the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away, and they die.
They are like new grass that grows in the morning.
6 In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it’s all dried up.
7 Your anger destroys us.
Your burning anger terrifies us.
8 You have put our sins right in front of you.
You have placed our secret sins where you can see them clearly.
9 You have been angry with us all of our days.
We groan as we come to the end of our lives.
10 We live to be about 70.
Or we may live to be 80, if we stay healthy.
But even our best days are filled with trouble and sorrow.
The years quickly pass, and we are gone.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
It’s as great as the respect we should have for you.
12 Teach us to realize how short our lives are.
Then our hearts will become wise.
The End Has Come
7 A message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, 2 “Son of man, I am the Lord and King. I say to the land of Israel, ‘The end has come! It has come on the four corners of the land. 3 The end has now come for you. I will pour out my anger on you. I will judge you based on how you have lived. I will pay you back for all your evil practices. I hate them.
4 “ ‘I will not feel sorry for you. I will not spare you. You can be sure that I will pay you back for how you have lived. I will judge you for your evil practices. I hate them. You will know that I am the Lord.’
5 “I am the Lord and King. I say, ‘Horrible trouble is coming! No one has ever heard of anything like it. It is here!
6 “ ‘The end has come! The end has come! It has stirred itself up against you. It is here! 7 Death has come on you who live in the land. The time for you to be destroyed has come. The day when it will happen is near. There is no joy on your mountains. There is nothing but panic.
8 “ ‘I am about to pour out all my great anger on you. I will judge you based on how you have lived. I will pay you back for all your evil practices. I hate them.
9 “ ‘I will not feel sorry for you. I will not spare you. I will pay you back for how you have lived. I will judge you for your evil practices. I hate them. You will know that I am the one who strikes you down. I am the Lord.
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. The sun was allowed to burn people with fire. 9 They were burned by the blazing heat. So they spoke evil things against the name of God, who controlled these plagues. But they refused to turn away from their sins. They did not give glory to God.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. The kingdom of the beast became very dark. People chewed on their tongues because they were suffering so much. 11 They spoke evil things against the God of heaven. They did this because of their pains and their sores. But they refused to turn away from the sins they had committed.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. Its water dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons that perform signs. They go out to gather the kings of the whole world for battle. This battle will take place on the great day of the God who rules over all.
15 “Look! I am coming like a thief! Blessed is anyone who stays awake and keeps their clothes on. Then they will be ready. They will not be caught naked and so be put to shame.”
16 Then the evil spirits gathered the kings together. In the Hebrew language, the place where the kings met is called Armageddon.
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne. It said, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, thunder and a powerful earthquake. There has never been an earthquake as terrible as this. One like this hasn’t happened while human beings have lived on earth. 19 The great city split into three parts. The cities of the nations crumbled and fell. God remembered Babylon the Great. He gave Babylon the cup filled with the wine of his terrible anger. 20 Every island ran away. The mountains could not be found. 21 Huge hailstones weighing about 100 pounds each fell from the sky. The hail crushed people. And they spoke evil things against God because of the plague. That’s because the plague of hail was so terrible.
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