Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 123[a]
Reliance on the Lord
1 A song of ascents.
To you I raise my eyes,
to you enthroned in heaven.(A)
2 Yes, like the eyes of servants
on the hand of their masters,
Like the eyes of a maid
on the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes are on the Lord our God,
till we are shown favor.
3 Show us favor, Lord, show us favor,
for we have our fill of contempt.(B)
4 Our souls are more than sated
with mockery from the insolent,
with contempt from the arrogant.
16 But the Lord raised up judges to save them from the power of their plunderers; 17 but they did not listen to their judges either, for they prostituted themselves by following other gods, bowing down to them. They were quick to stray from the way their ancestors had taken, who obeyed the commandments of the Lord; but these did not. 18 When the Lord raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived. The Lord would change his mind when they groaned in their affliction under their oppressors. 19 But when the judge died, they would again do worse than their ancestors, following other gods, serving and bowing down to them, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn ways.(A)
20 (B)The anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and he said: Because this nation has transgressed my covenant, which I enjoined on their ancestors, and has not listened to me, 21 I for my part will not clear away for them any more of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 (C)They will be made to test Israel, to see whether or not they will keep to the way of the Lord and continue in it as their ancestors did. 23 Therefore the Lord allowed these nations to remain instead of expelling them immediately. He had not delivered them into the power of Joshua.
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. It was given the power to burn people with fire. 9 People were burned by the scorching heat and blasphemed the name of God who had power over these plagues, but they did not repent or give him glory.(A)
10 (B)The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast.[a] Its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and people bit their tongues in pain 11 and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores. But they did not repent of their works.(C)
12 The sixth angel emptied his bowl on the great river Euphrates. Its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.[b] 13 I saw three unclean spirits like frogs[c] come from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet.(D) 14 These were demonic spirits who performed signs. They went out to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God the almighty.(E) 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief.”[d] Blessed is the one who watches and keeps his clothes ready, so that he may not go naked and people see him exposed.)(F) 16 They then assembled the kings in the place that is named Armageddon[e] in Hebrew.
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”(G) 18 Then there were lightning flashes, rumblings, and peals of thunder, and a great earthquake. It was such a violent earthquake that there has never been one like it since the human race began on earth.(H) 19 The great city[f] was split into three parts, and the gentile cities fell. But God remembered great Babylon, giving it the cup filled with the wine of his fury and wrath. 20 [g]Every island fled, and mountains disappeared. 21 Large hailstones like huge weights came down from the sky on people, and they blasphemed God for the plague of hail because this plague was so severe.(I)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.