Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
(A song for worship.)
A Prayer for Mercy
1 Our Lord and our God,
I turn my eyes to you,
on your throne in heaven.
2 Servants look to their master,
but we will look to you,
until you have mercy on us.
3 Please have mercy, Lord!
We have been insulted
more than we can stand,
4 and we can't take more abuse
from those proud,
conceited people.
The Lord Chooses Leaders for Israel
16 From time to time, the Lord would choose special leaders known as judges.[a] These judges would lead the Israelites into battle and defeat the enemies that made raids on them. 17 In years gone by, the Israelites had been faithful to the Lord, but now they were quick to be unfaithful and to refuse even to listen to these judges. The Israelites disobeyed the Lord, and instead of worshiping him, they worshiped other gods.
18 When enemies made life miserable for the Israelites, the Lord felt sorry for them. He would choose a judge and help that judge rescue Israel from its enemies. The Lord was kind to Israel as long as that judge lived. 19 But afterwards, the Israelites would become even more sinful than their ancestors had been. The Israelites were stubborn—they simply would not stop worshiping other gods or following their teachings.
The Lord Lets Enemies Test Israel
20 The Lord was angry with Israel and said:
The Israelites have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They won't obey me, 21 so I'll stop helping them defeat their enemies. Israel still had a lot of enemies when Joshua died, 22 and I'm going to let those enemies stay. I'll use them to test Israel, because then I can find out if Israel will worship and obey me as their ancestors did.
23 That's why the Lord had not let Joshua get rid of those enemy nations all at once.
8 The fourth angel emptied his bowl on the sun, and it began to scorch people like fire. 9 Everyone was scorched by its great heat, and all of them cursed the name of God who had power over these terrible troubles. But no one turned to God and praised him.
10 (A) The fifth angel emptied his bowl on the throne of the beast. At once darkness covered its kingdom, and its people began biting their tongues in pain. 11 And because of their painful sores, they cursed the God who rules in heaven. But still they did not stop doing evil things.
12 (B) The sixth angel emptied his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it completely dried up to make a road for the kings from the east. 13 An evil spirit that looked like a frog came out of the mouth of the dragon. One also came out of the mouth of the beast, and another out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 These evil spirits had the power to work miracles. They went to every king on earth, to bring them together for a war against God All-Powerful. But that will be the day of God's great victory.
15 (C) Remember Christ says, “When I come, it will surprise you like a thief! But God will bless you, if you are awake and ready. Then you won't have to walk around naked and be ashamed.”
16 (D) Those armies came together in a place that in Hebrew is called Armagedon.[a]
17 As soon as the seventh angel emptied his bowl in the air, a loud voice from the throne in the temple shouted, “It's done!” 18 (E) There were flashes of lightning, roars of thunder, and the worst earthquake in all history. 19 (F) The great city of Babylon split into three parts, and the cities of other nations fell. So God made Babylon drink from the wine cup filled with his anger. 20 (G) Every island ran away, and the mountains disappeared. 21 (H) Hailstones, weighing about 50 kilograms each, fell from the sky on people. Finally, the people cursed God, because the hail was so terrible.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.