Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Saved Israel from Egypt
A maskil of Asaph.
78 My people, listen to my teaching;
listen to what I say.
2 I will speak using stories;
I will tell secret things from long ago.
3 We have heard them and known them
by what our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not keep them from our children;
we will tell those who come later
about the praises of the Lord.
We will tell about his power
and the miracles he has done.
5 The Lord made an agreement with Jacob
and gave the teachings to Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children.
6 Then their children would know them,
even their children not yet born.
And they would tell their children.
7 So they would all trust God
and would not forget what he had done
but would obey his commands.
30 Joshua built an altar for the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, as 31 Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. Joshua built the altar as it was explained in the Book of the Teachings of Moses. It was made from uncut stones; no tool was ever used on them. On that altar the Israelites offered burnt offerings to the Lord and fellowship offerings. 32 There Joshua wrote the teachings of Moses on stones for all the people of Israel to see. 33 The elders, officers, judges, and all the Israelites were there; Israelites and non-Israelites were all standing around the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord in front of the priests, the Levites who had carried the Ark. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Ebal, and half stood in front of Mount Gerizim. This was the way the Lord’s servant Moses had earlier commanded the people to be blessed.
34 Then Joshua read all the words of the teachings, the blessings and the curses, exactly as they were written in the Book of the Teachings. 35 All the Israelites were gathered together—men, women, and children—along with the non-Israelites who lived among them. Joshua read every command that Moses had given.
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God. 14 The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And they let loose the four angels who had been kept ready for this hour and day and month and year so they could kill a third of all people on the earth. 16 I heard how many troops on horses were in their army—two hundred million.
17 The horses and their riders I saw in the vision looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions, with fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 18 A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three terrible disasters coming out of the horses’ mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. 19 The horses’ power was in their mouths and in their tails; their tails were like snakes with heads, and with them they hurt people.
20 The other people who were not killed by these terrible disasters still did not change their hearts and turn away from what they had made with their own hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 These people did not change their hearts and turn away from murder or evil magic, from their sexual sins or stealing.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.