Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Help

130 O Lord, I have cried to You out of the deep places. ² Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears hear the voice of my prayers. ³ If you, Lord, should write down our sins, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But You are the One Who forgives, so You are honored with fear.

⁵ I wait for the Lord. My soul waits and I hope in His Word. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord more than one who watches for the morning; yes, more than one who watches for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord! For there is loving-kindness with the Lord. With Him we are saved for sure. ⁸ And He will save Israel from all their sins.

God Judges Well

¹⁰ “Son of man, say to the people of Israel, ‘You have said, “Our sins are upon us, and we are wasting away in them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I am not pleased when sinful people die. But I am pleased when the sinful turn from their way and live. Turn! Turn from your sinful ways! Why will you die, O people of Israel?’ ¹² Now, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘If a man does what is right and good, it will not save him when he sins.’ And the sins of a sinful man will not make him fall when he turns from his sinful way. But the man who is right and good will not be able to live by his good ways when he sins. ¹³ When I tell the man who is right and good that he will live, and he trusts in his good ways so much that he sins, none of his good works will be remembered. He will die for the sin he has done. ¹⁴ But when I tell the sinful man that he will die, and he turns from his sin and does what is right and good, ¹⁵ if he gives back what a person gave him as trust for a promise, pays back what he had stolen, follows the Laws that give life and does not sin, he will live for sure. He will not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins he has done will be remembered against him. He has done what is right and good, and he will live for sure.

The Seventh Horn—Worship in Heaven

¹⁵ The seventh angel blew his horn. There were loud voices in heaven saying, “The nations of the world have become the holy nation of our Lord and of His Christ. He will be the Leader forever.” ¹⁶ Then the twenty-four leaders who sat on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God. ¹⁷ They said, “All-powerful Lord God, the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, we thank You because You are using Your great power and have become Leader. ¹⁸ The people who do not know God have become angry with You. Now it is time for You to be angry with them. It is time for the dead to stand before You and to be judged. It is time for the servants You own who are the early preachers and those who belong to You to get the reward that is coming to them. It is time for the important people and those not important who honor Your name to get the pay that is coming to them. It is time to destroy those who have made every kind of trouble on the earth.”

¹⁹ God’s house in heaven was opened. The special box which held the Old Way of Worship was seen in the house of God. There was lightning and thunder and noise. The earth shook and large hail stones fell.