Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Looking for God’s Favour
A song of ascents.
123 I lift my eyes to you,
the one enthroned in heaven.(A)
2 Like a servant’s eyes on his master’s hand,
like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand,
so our eyes are on the Lord our God
until he shows us favour.(B)
3 Show us favour, Lord, show us favour,
for we’ve had more than enough contempt.(C)
4 We’ve had more than enough
scorn from the arrogant
and contempt from the proud.(D)
Joshua’s Death
6 Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.(A) 7 The people worshipped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works(B) he had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,(C) north of Mount Gaash. 10 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord(D) or the works he had done for Israel.
11 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.(E) They worshipped the Baals(F) 12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples(G) and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord,(H) 13 for they abandoned him and worshipped Baal and the Ashtoreths.(I)
14 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold(J) them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. 15 Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them(K) and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them.(L) So they suffered greatly.
The First Bowl
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels,(A) ‘Go and pour out the seven[a] bowls(B) of God’s wrath on the earth.’ 2 The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores(C) broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped its image.
The Second Bowl
3 The second[b] poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.(D)
The Third Bowl
4 The third[c] poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.(E) 5 I heard the angel of the waters say,
You are just,
the Holy One,(F) who is and who was,(G)
because you have passed judgement on these things.
6 Because they poured out
the blood of the saints and the prophets,(H)
you have given them blood to drink;
they deserve it!(I)
7 I heard the altar say,
Yes, Lord God, the Almighty,
true and just are your judgements.(J)
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