Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 123[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
123 I look up[c] toward you,
the one enthroned[d] in heaven.
2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress,[e]
so our eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!
For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some.[f]
4 We have had our fill[g]
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
16 The Lord raised up leaders[a] who delivered them from these robbers.[b] 17 But they did not obey[c] their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped[d] them. They quickly turned aside from the path[e] their ancestors[f] had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not.[g] 18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people[h] from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them[i] when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.[j] 19 When a leader died, the next generation[k] would again[l] act more wickedly than the previous one.[m] They would follow after other gods, worshiping them[n] and bowing down to them. They did not give up[o] their practices or their stubborn ways.
A Divine Decision
20 The Lord was furious with Israel.[p] He said, “This nation[q] has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors[r] by disobeying me.[s] 21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died, 22 in order to test Israel.[t] [u] I want to see[v] whether or not the people[w] will carefully walk in the path[x] marked out by[y] the Lord, as their ancestors[z] were careful to do.” 23 This is why[aa] the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately;[ab] he did not hand them over to Joshua.
8 Then[a] the fourth angel[b] poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people[c] with fire. 9 Thus[d] people[e] were scorched by the terrible heat,[f] yet[g] they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority[h] over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.
10 Then[i] the fifth angel[j] poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast so that[k] darkness covered his kingdom,[l] and people[m] began to bite[n] their tongues because[o] of their pain. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings[p] and because of their sores,[q] but nevertheless[r] they still refused to repent[s] of their deeds.
12 Then[t] the sixth angel[u] poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and dried up its water[v] to prepare the way[w] for the kings from the east.[x] 13 Then[y] I saw three unclean spirits[z] that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth[aa] to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful.[ab]
15 (Look ! I will come like a thief!
Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose[ac] his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition[ad] be seen.)[ae]
16 Now[af] the spirits[ag] gathered the kings and their armies[ah] to the place that is called Armageddon[ai] in Hebrew.
17 Finally[aj] the seventh angel[ak] poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: “It is done!” 18 Then[al] there were flashes of lightning, roaring,[am] and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake—an earthquake unequaled since humanity[an] has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake. 19 The[ao] great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations[ap] collapsed.[aq] So[ar] Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup[as] filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath.[at] 20 Every[au] island fled away[av] and no mountains could be found.[aw] 21 And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a 100 pounds[ax] each, fell from heaven[ay] on people,[az] but they[ba] blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it[bb] was so horrendous.[bc]
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