Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁰ The people of Isra’el camped at Gilgal, and they observed Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month, there on the plains of Yericho. ¹¹ The day after Pesach they ate what the land produced, matzah and roasted ears of grain that day. ¹² The following day, after they had eaten food produced in the land, the man ended. From then on the people of Isra’el no longer had man; instead, that year, they ate the produce of the land of Kena‘an.

⁶ Now the seven angels with the seven shofars prepared to sound them.

⁷ The first one sounded his shofar; and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was thrown down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸ The second angel sounded his shofar, and what looked like an enormous blazing mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded his shofar; and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star was “Bitterness,” and a third of the water became bitter, and many people died from the water that had been turned bitter.

¹² The fourth angel sounded his shofar; and a third of the sun was struck, also a third of the moon and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened, the day had a third less light, and the night likewise.

¹³ Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle give a loud cry, as it flew in mid-heaven, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the people living on earth, because of the remaining blasts from the three angels who have yet to sound their shofars!”

9 The fifth angel sounded his shofar; and I saw a star that had fallen out of heaven onto the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. ² He opened the shaft of the Abyss, and there went up smoke from the shaft like the smoke of a huge furnace; the sun was darkened, and the sky too, by the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then out of the smoke onto the earth came locusts, and they were given power like the power scorpions have on earth. ⁴ They were instructed not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant or any tree, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were not allowed to kill them, only to inflict pain on them for five months; and the pain they caused was like the pain of a scorpion sting. ⁶ In those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

⁷ Now these locusts looked like horses outfitted for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. ⁹ Their chests were like iron breastplates, and the sound their wings made was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like those of scorpions, with stings; and in their tails was their power to hurt people for five months. ¹¹ They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is “Abaddon” and in our language, “Destroyer.”

¹² The first woe has passed, but there are still two woes to come.