Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A maskil of Asaph.
78 My people, listen to my teaching.
Pay attention to what I say.
2 I will open my mouth and tell a story.
I will speak about things that were hidden.
They happened a long time ago.
3 We have heard about them and we know them.
Our people who lived before us have told us about them.
4 We won’t hide them from our children.
We will tell them to those who live after us.
We will tell them what the Lord has done that is worthy of praise.
We will talk about his power and the wonderful things he has done.
5 He gave laws to the people of Jacob.
He gave Israel their law.
He commanded our people who lived before us
to teach his laws to their children.
6 Then those born later would know his laws.
Even their children yet to come would know them.
And they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God.
They would not forget what he had done.
They would obey his commands.
Joshua Reads the Book of the Law to the People
30 Joshua built an altar to honor the Lord, the God of Israel. He built it on Mount Ebal. 31 Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the Israelites to do that. Joshua built the altar according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Joshua built the altar out of stones that iron tools had never touched. Then the people offered on the altar burnt offerings to the Lord. They also sacrificed friendship offerings on it. 32 Joshua copied the law of Moses on stones. He did it while all the Israelites were watching. 33 They were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All the Israelites, including outsiders and citizens, were there. Israel’s elders, officials and judges were also there. All of them faced the priests, who were Levites. They were carrying the ark. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim. The other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. Moses, the servant of the Lord, had earlier told them to do it. Moses told them to do it when he had given directions to bless the Israelites.
34 Then Joshua read all the words of the law out loud. He read the blessings and the curses. He read them just as they are written in the Book of the Law. 35 Joshua read every word Moses had commanded. He read them to the whole community of Israel. That included the women and children. It also included the outsiders living among them.
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the four corners of the golden altar. The altar stands in front of God. 14 The voice spoke to the sixth angel who had the trumpet. The voice said, “Set the four angels free who are held at the great river Euphrates.” 15 The four angels had been ready for this very hour and day and month and year. They were set free to kill a third of all people. 16 The number of troops on horseback was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision had armor on their chests. It was red like fire, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads. Out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of all people were killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of the horses’ mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails. The tails were like snakes whose heads could bite.
20 There were people who were not killed by these plagues. But they still didn’t turn away from what they had been doing. They did not stop worshiping demons. They kept worshiping statues of gods made out of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. These statues can’t see or hear or walk. 21 The people also did not turn away from their murders, witchcraft, sexual sins and stealing.
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