Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

One of Asaph’s maskils.

¹⁰ The Israelites celebrated Passover while they were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho. This was on the evening of the 14th day of the month. ¹¹ The day after Passover, the people ate food that grew in that land. They ate bread made without yeast and roasted grain. ¹² The next morning, the manna from heaven stopped coming. This happened the first day after the people ate the food that grew in the land of Canaan. From that time on, the Israelites did not get the manna from heaven.

The First of Seven Trumpet Blasts

⁶ Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their trumpets.

⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet. Then hail and fire mixed with blood was poured down on the earth. And a third of the earth and all the green grass and a third of the trees were burned up.

⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet. Then something that looked like a big mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood. ⁹ And a third of the created beings in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel blew his trumpet. Then a large star, burning like a torch, fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star was Bitterness.^[a] And a third of all the water became bitter. Many people died from drinking this bitter water.

¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet. Then a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck. So a third of them became dark. A third of the day and night was without light.

¹³ While I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying high in the air. The eagle said in a loud voice, “Terrible! Terrible! How terrible for those who live on the earth! The terrible trouble will begin after the sounds of the trumpets that the other three angels will blow.”

The Fifth Trumpet Begins the First Terror

9 The fifth angel blew his trumpet. Then I saw a star fall from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the deep hole that leads down to the bottomless pit. ² Then the star opened the hole leading to the pit. Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace. The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole.

³ Then locusts came out of the smoke and went down to the earth. They were given the power to sting like scorpions. ⁴ They were told not to damage the fields of grass or any plant or tree. They were to hurt only those who did not have God’s mark on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not given the power to kill them but only to cause them pain for five months—pain like a person feels when stung by a scorpion. ⁶ During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it. They will want to die, but death will hide from them.

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something that looked like a gold crown. Their faces looked like human faces. ⁸ Their hair was like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ Their chests looked like iron breastplates. The sound their wings made was like the noise of many horses and chariots hurrying into battle. ¹⁰ The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions. The power they had to give people pain for five months was in their tails. ¹¹ They had a ruler, who was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon.^[b] In Greek it is Apollyon.^[c]

¹² The first terror is now past. There are still two other terrors to come.