Book of Common Prayer
The lion, the lamb
5 I saw that there was a scroll in the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. The scroll was written on the inside and the outside, and it was sealed with seven seals. 2 I saw a strong angel announcing in a loud voice, “Does anybody deserve to open the scroll, to undo its seals?” 3 And nobody in heaven or on the earth or under the earth could open the scroll or look at it. 4 I burst into tears because it seemed that there was nobody who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside it. 5 One of the elders, however, spoke to me. “Don’t cry,” he said. “Look! The lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the victory! He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb. It was standing there as though it had been slaughtered; it had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 The lamb came up and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne.
Worthy is the lamb!
8 When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down in front of the lamb. They each had a harp, and they each had golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s holy people. 9 They sing a new song, which goes like this:
“You are worthy to take the scroll;
you are worthy to open its seals;
for you were slaughtered and with your own blood
you purchased a people for God,
from every tribe and tongue,
from every people and nation
10 and made them a kingdom and priests to our God
and they will reign on the earth.”
The reason for parables
10 His disciples came to him.
“Why are you speaking to them in parables?” they asked.
11 “You’ve been given the gift of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,” he replied, “but they haven’t been given it. 12 Anyone who already has something will be given more, and they will have plenty. But anyone who has nothing—even what they have will be taken away! 13 That’s why I speak to them in parables, so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand or take it in. 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is coming true in them:
You will listen and listen but won’t understand,
you will look and look but not see.
15 This people’s heart has gone flabby and fat,
their ears are muffled and dull,
their eyes are darkened and shut;
so that they won’t see with their eyes
or hear with their ears, or know in their heart,
or turn back again for me to restore them.
16 “But there’s great news for your eyes: they can see! And for your ears: they can hear! 17 I’m telling you the truth: many prophets and holy people longed to see what you see and didn’t see it, and to hear what you hear and didn’t hear it.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.