⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.^(A)

4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:^{(A) 2} proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.^(B)

²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^(A)

The Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.^{(A) 16} It is they who shall enter my sanctuary; it is they who shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

³⁵ You shall remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night for seven days, keeping the Lord’s charge so that you do not die, for so have I been commanded.”

⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁹ They sing a new song:

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,^{(C) 12} singing with full voice,

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, singing,

¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

²¹ To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.^(A)

⁴ Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.^{(A) 5} If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not erase your name from the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.^(B)

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,^{(A) 23} and to the assembly^[a] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,^(B)