Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

¹⁶ Then the Lord gave them leaders. The leaders saved them from the power of those robbers. ¹⁷ But the people wouldn’t listen to their leaders. They weren’t faithful to the Lord. They served other gods and worshiped them. They didn’t obey the Lord’s commands as their people before them had done. They quickly turned away from the path their people had taken. ¹⁸ When the Lord gave them a leader, he was with that leader. The Lord saved the people from the power of their enemies. He did it as long as the leader lived. The Lord felt very sorry for the people. They groaned because of what their enemies did to them. Their enemies treated them badly. ¹⁹ But when the leader died, the people returned to their evil ways. The things they did were even more sinful than the things their people before them had done. They served other gods and worshiped them. They refused to give up their evil practices. They wouldn’t change their stubborn ways.

²⁰ So the Lord became very angry with the Israelites. He said, “This nation has broken my covenant. I made it with their people of long ago. But this nation has not listened to me. ²¹ Joshua left some nations in the land when he died. I will no longer drive out those nations to make room for Israel. ²² I will use those nations to test Israel. I will see whether Israel will live the way I, the Lord, want them to. I will see whether they will be like their people of long ago. I will see whether they will follow my path.” ²³ The Lord had let those nations remain in the land. He didn’t drive them out right away. He didn’t hand them over to Joshua.

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.