Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
78 (A)Listen, O my people, to my [b]instruction;
(B)Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will (C)open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter (D)dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And (E)our fathers have told us.
4 We will (F)not conceal them from their children,
But (G)tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His (H)wondrous works that He has done.
5 For He established a (I)testimony in Jacob
And appointed a (J)law in Israel,
Which He (K)commanded our fathers
That they should [c](L)teach them to their children,
6 (M)That the generation to come might know, even (N)the children yet to be born,
That they may arise and (O)tell them to their children,
7 That they should put their confidence in God
And (P)not forget the works of God,
But (Q)keep His commandments,
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in (A)Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, (B)an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 He (C)wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which [a]he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. 33 (D)All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of (E)Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. 34 Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in (F)the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel (G)with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were [b]living among them.
The Sixth Trumpet—Army from the East
13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard [a]a voice from the [b]four (A)horns of the (B)golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the (C)four angels who are bound at the (D)great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were (E)released, so that they would kill a (F)third of [c]mankind. 16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was (G)two hundred million; (H)I heard the number of them. 17 And [d]this is how I saw (I)in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of [e](J)brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and (K)out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and [f](L)brimstone. 18 A (M)third of [g]mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the (N)fire and the smoke and the [h]brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.
20 The rest of [i]mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, (O)did not repent of (P)the works of their hands, so as not to (Q)worship demons, and (R)the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they (S)did not repent of their murders nor of their (T)sorceries nor of their (U)immorality nor of their thefts.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.