Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

³⁹ As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, but later you shall surely listen to Me. But do not pollute My holy name anymore with your gifts and with your idols. ⁴⁰ For on My holy mountain, on the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve Me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will seek your offerings and the first fruits of your gifts with all your holy things. ⁴¹ I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered. And I will be sanctified among you before the nations. ⁴² You shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers. ⁴³ There you shall remember your ways and all your deeds in which you have been defiled. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed. ⁴⁴ You shall know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.

The Seals

6 I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures saying, with voice like thunder, “Come and see.” ² And I looked, and there before me was a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow. And a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering that he might overcome.

³ When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come and see.” ⁴ Then another horse that was red went forth. Power was given to him who sat on it to take peace from the earth, causing people to kill one another. Then a great sword was given to him.

⁵ When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Then I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart^[a] of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages,^[b] and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

⁷ When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ So I looked, and there was a pale horse, and the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed him. Power over a fourth of the earth was given to them, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

⁹ When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had held. ¹⁰ They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ Then a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers should be completed, who would be killed as they were.

¹² I watched as He opened the sixth seal. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. The sun became black, like sackcloth made from goat hair, and the moon became like blood. ¹³ And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when it is shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ Then the heavens receded like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the commanding officers and the strong and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ for the great day of His wrath has come. Who is able to withstand it?”^[c]

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

7 Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind would not blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. ² And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and the sea, ³ saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” ⁴ Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand out of every tribe of the children of Israel: