Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 123
A Song of Ascents.
1 To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who dwell in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look upon the Lord our God,
until He has mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have been completely filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the ridicule of those who are at ease,
and with the contempt of the proud ones.
The Death of Joshua
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, each Israelite went to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works that the Lord had done for Israel.
8 Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 That entire generation passed away, and after them grew up a generation who did not know the Lord or the deeds that He had done for Israel.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness
11 The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed after other gods, the gods of the peoples around them. They worshipped them and provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of those who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they were no longer able to stand against their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring disaster, as the Lord had said and as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.”
2 The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and foul and grievous sores came on the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. It became like the blood of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel of the waters saying:
“You are righteous, O Lord,
who is and was and who is to be,
because You have judged these things.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and You have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard another from the altar saying:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and righteous are Your judgments.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.