Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God’s Faithfulness in Israel’s History

A maskil of Asaph.^[a]

¹⁰ And the Israelites^[a] camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ On the next day after the Passover, on that^[b] very day, they ate from the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted corn. ¹² And the manna ceased the day after, when they started eating the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the Israelites.^[c] They ate from the crop of the land of Canaan in that year.

The Blowing of the Trumpets

⁶ And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves in order to blow them.

⁷ And the first blew the trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

⁸ And the second angel blew the trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, ⁹ and a third of the creatures in the sea—the ones which had life—died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ And the third angel blew the trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ And the name of the star was called Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.

¹² And the fourth angel blew the trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened, and the day did not shine with respect to a third of it, and the night likewise.

¹³ And I looked, and I heard one eagle flying directly overhead^[a], saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who live on the earth, from the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow the trumpet!”

Tormenting Locusts from the Abyss

9 And the fifth angel blew the trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the shaft of the abyss was given to him. ² And he opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke went up from the shaft like smoke from a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. ³ And out of the smoke locusts came to the earth, and power was given to them like the scorpions of the earth have power. ⁴ And it was told to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, except those people who do not have the seal of God on their^[b] foreheads. ⁵ And it was granted to them that they should not kill them, but that they would be tormented five months, and their torment is like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. ⁶ And in those days people will seek death and will never find it, and they will long to die, and death will flee from them.

⁷ And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads were something like crowns similar in appearance to gold, and their faces were like men’s faces, ⁸ and they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions, ⁹ and they had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots^[c] running into battle. ¹⁰ And they have tails similar in appearance to scorpions, and stings, and their power to injure people for five months is in their tails. ¹¹ They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name^[d] in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

¹² The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still coming after these things.