Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song of Ascents
A Prayer for Relief
123 To you, who sit enthroned in heaven,
I lift up my eyes.
2 Consider this: as the eyes of a servant focus
on what his master provides,[a]
and as the eyes of a female servant focus[b]
on what her mistress provides,[c]
so our eyes focus on the Lord our God,
until he has mercy on us.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our lives overflow
with scorn from those who live at ease,
with contempt from those who are proud.
16 Then the Lord raised up leaders,[a] who delivered Israel[b] from domination by their marauders. 17 But they didn’t listen to their leaders, because they were committing spiritual immorality by following other gods and worshiping them. They quickly turned away from the road on which their ancestors had walked in obedience to the commands of the Lord. They didn’t follow their example. 18 As a result, whenever the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord remained present with their leader, delivering Israel[c] from the control of their enemies during the lifetime of that leader. The Lord[d] was moved with compassion by their groaning that had been caused by those who were oppressing and persecuting them. 19 However, after the leader had died, they would relapse to a condition more corrupt than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and worshiping them. They would not abandon their activities or their obstinate lifestyles.
20 In his burning anger against Israel, the Lord said, “Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven’t obeyed me, 21 I’m also going to stop expelling any of the nations that remained after Joshua died. 22 That way, I’ll use them to demonstrate whether or not Israel will keep the Lord’s lifestyle by walking on that road like their ancestors did.” 23 So the Lord caused those nations to remain and did not expel them quickly. He did not give them into Joshua’s control.
8 The fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, which then was allowed to burn people with fire, 9 and they were burned by the fierce heat. They cursed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured his bowl on the throne of the beast. Its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People[a] gnawed on their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pain-filled sores. But they did not repent of their behavior.
12 The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great Euphrates River. Its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 Then I saw three disgusting spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs. They go to the kings of the whole earth and gather them for the war of the great Day of God Almighty.
15 “See, I am coming like a thief.
How blessed is the person who remains alert
and keeps his clothes on!
He won’t have to go naked
and let others see his shame.”
16 The spirits[b] gathered the kings[c] to the place that is called Armageddon in Hebrew.
17 The seventh angel threw the contents of[d] his bowl across the sky. A loud voice came from the throne in the Temple and said, “It has happened!” 18 There were flashes of lightning, noises, peals of thunder, and a powerful earthquake. There has never been such a powerful earthquake since people have been on the earth. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. God remembered to give Babylon the Great the cup of wine filled with the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island vanished,[e] and the mountains could no longer be found. 21 Huge hailstones, each weighing about a talent,[f] fell from the sky on people, who cursed God because the plague of hail was so terrible.
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