Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 78^[a]

A New Beginning in Zion and David

¹ A maskil of Asaph.

I

^10 (A)While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.^{[a] 11} On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day ¹² after they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.^(B)

The First Four Trumpets. ⁶ The seven angels who were holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.^(A)

⁷ When the first one blew his trumpet, there came hail and fire mixed with blood, which was hurled down to the earth. A third of the land was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all green grass.^[a]

^8 [b]When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a large burning mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood,^{(B) 9} a third of the creatures living in the sea^[c] died, and a third of the ships were wrecked.

¹⁰ When the third angel blew his trumpet, a large star burning like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.^{(C) 11} The star was called “Wormwood,”^[d] and a third of all the water turned to wormwood. Many people died from this water, because it was made bitter.^(D)

¹² When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them became dark. The day lost its light for a third of the time, as did the night.^(E)

¹³ Then I looked again and heard an eagle flying high overhead cry out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe^[e] to the inhabitants of the earth from the rest of the trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to blow!”

Chapter 9

The Fifth Trumpet.^{[f] 1} Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star^[g] that had fallen from the sky to the earth. It was given the key for the passage to the abyss. ² It opened the passage to the abyss,^(F) and smoke came up out of the passage like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the passage.^{(G) 3} Locusts came out of the smoke onto the land, and they were given the same power as scorpions^[h] of the earth.^{(H) 4} They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not allowed to kill them but only to torment them for five months;^[i] the torment they inflicted was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. ⁶ During that time these people will seek death but will not find it, and they will long to die but death will escape them.^(I)

^7 [j]The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,^{(J) 8} and they had hair like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth,^{(K) 9} and they had chests like iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots racing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like scorpions, with stingers; with their tails they had power to harm people for five months. ¹¹ They had as their king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon^[k] and in Greek Apollyon.

¹² The first woe has passed, but there are two more to come.

The Sixth Trumpet.^[l]