Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 78
How Often They Rebelled
Heading
A maskil by Asaph.
A Solemn Call to Hear
1 Give ear, O my people, to my instruction.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth to share a lesson.
I will speak about puzzling problems from long ago,
3 things we have heard and known,
things our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their descendants.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders that he has done.
5 He set up testimony for Jacob.
In Israel he established the law.
He commanded our fathers to make it known to their children.
6 Then the next generation would know it,
even the children not yet born.
They would rise up and tell their children.
7 Then they would put their confidence in God,
and they would not forget the deeds of God,
but they would keep his commands.
10 While the people of Israel were camped at Gilgal, they celebrated the Passover on the plain near Jericho on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening at sunset. 11 They ate from the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. On that very day they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after the first day that they had eaten from the produce of the land. The people of Israel no longer received manna. Instead, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
The First Four Trumpets
6 The seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared to sound them. 7 The first sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, and[a] a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the creatures that live in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a huge star, blazing like a lamp, fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood.[b] Many of the people died from these waters because they had been made bitter.
12 Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, as well as a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them became dark. And there was no light for a third of the day and likewise for the night.
13 Then I looked and I heard a single eagle[c] flying in the middle of the sky, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those whose home is on the earth because of the remaining trumpet blasts of the three angels who are about to sound their trumpets.”
The Fifth Trumpet—The Locusts From Hell
9 Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen out of heaven to the earth, and the key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the pit like the smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given the kind of power that scorpions of the earth have. 4 They were told not to harm the earth’s grass, any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.
5 Indeed, they were not given permission to kill these people but only to torture them for five months. And the pain they cause is like the pain caused by a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 In those days people will seek death but will certainly not find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads were what appeared to be crowns that were like gold. Their faces looked like human faces. 8 They had hair that looked like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates that appeared to be made of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots and horses charging into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers like those of scorpions, and in their tails they had power to hurt people for five months.
11 They have the angel of the abyss over them as their king. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.[d]
12 One woe is past. Look! After these things two more woes are coming.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.