Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 78

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹⁰ On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month,^(A) while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.^{(B) 11} The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land:^(C) unleavened bread^(D) and roasted grain.^{(E) 12} The manna stopped the day after^[a] they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.^(F)

The Trumpets

⁶ Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets^(A) prepared to sound them.

⁷ The first angel^(B) sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire^(C) mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third^(D) of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.^(E)

⁸ The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain,^(F) all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third^(G) of the sea turned into blood,^{(H) 9} a third^(I) of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky^(J) on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water^(K)— ¹¹ the name of the star is Wormwood.^[a] A third^(L) of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.^(M)

¹² The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third^(N) of them turned dark.^(O) A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.^(P)

¹³ As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair^(Q) call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe^(R) to the inhabitants of the earth,^(S) because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.^(T) The star was given the key^(U) to the shaft of the Abyss.^{(V) 2} When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.^(W) The sun and sky were darkened^(X) by the smoke from the Abyss.^{(Y) 3} And out of the smoke locusts^(Z) came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions^(AA) of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm^(AB) the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,^(AC) but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(AD) 5} They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.^(AE) And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion^(AF) when it strikes. ⁶ During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.^(AG)

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.^(AH) On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.^{(AI) 8} Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.^{(AJ) 9} They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.^{(AK) 10} They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.^{(AL) 11} They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,^(AM) whose name in Hebrew^(AN) is Abaddon^(AO) and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

¹² The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.^(AP)