Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song for going up to the Temple.
123 Lord, I look up and pray to you.
You sit as King in heaven.
2 A slave looks to his master to provide what he needs,
and a servant girl depends on the woman she serves.
So we depend on the Lord our God,
waiting for him to have mercy on us.
3 Lord, be merciful to us,
because we have been insulted much too long.
4 We have had enough of the hateful words of those proud people
who make fun of us and show us no respect.
Disobedience and Defeat
6 Then Joshua told the people to go home, so each tribe went to take their area of land. 7 The Israelites served the Lord as long as Joshua was alive, and they continued serving the Lord during the lifetimes of the elders who lived after Joshua had died. These old men had seen all the great things the Lord had done for the Israelites. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 The Israelites buried Joshua on the land that he had been given. That was at Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation died, the next generation grew up. This new generation did not know about the Lord or what he had done for the Israelites. 11 So the Israelites did something very evil before the Lord. They began serving the false god Baal. 12 It was the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped, who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But they stopped following him and began to worship the false gods of the people living around them. This made the Lord angry. 13 The Israelites stopped following the Lord and began worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth.
14 The Lord was angry with the Israelites, so he let enemies attack them and take their possessions. He let their enemies who lived around them defeat them. The Israelites could not protect themselves from their enemies. 15 When the Israelites went out to fight, they always lost. They lost because the Lord was not on their side. He had already warned them that they would lose if they served the gods of the people living around them. The Israelites suffered very much.
The Bowls Filled With God’s Anger
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple. It said to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s anger on the earth.”
2 The first angel left. He poured out his bowl on the land. Then all those who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its idol got sores that were ugly and painful.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. Then the sea became blood like a dead man’s blood. And everything living in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water. The rivers and the springs of water became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel of the waters say to God,
“You are the one who is and who always was.
You are the Holy One.
You are right in these judgments you have made.
6 The people have spilled the blood
of your holy people and your prophets.
Now you have given those people blood to drink.
This is what they deserve.”
7 And I heard the altar say,
“Yes, Lord God All-Powerful,
your judgments are true and right.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International