Book of Common Prayer
God and the lamb are there
22 I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God the Almighty is its temple, together with the lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day, for there will be no night there. 26 They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 Nothing that has not been made holy will ever come into it, nor will anyone who practices abomination or who tells lies, but only those who are written in the lamb’s book of life.
22 Then he showed me the river of the water of life. It was sparkling like crystal, and flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either bank of the river was growing the tree of life. It produces twelve kinds of fruit, bearing this fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed is there anymore. Rather, the throne of God and of the lamb are in the city, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them; and they will reign forever and ever.
Humility and danger
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus.
“So, then,” they said, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Jesus called a child and stood her in the middle of them.
3 “I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “Unless you turn inside out and become like children, you will never, ever, get into the kingdom of heaven. 4 So if any of you make yourselves humble like this child, you will be great in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And if anyone welcomes one such child in my name, they welcome me.
6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to trip up,” he went on, “it would be better for them to have a huge millstone hung around their neck and be drowned far out in the deep sea. 7 It’s a terrible thing for the world that people will be made to stumble. Obstacles are bound to appear and trip people up, but it will be terrible for the person who makes them come.”
More about the “little ones”
8 “But if your hand or your foot causes you to trip up,” Jesus continued, “cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter into life crippled or lame than to go into eternal fire with both hands and both feet! 9 And if your eye causes you to trip up, pull it out and throw it away. Going into life with one eye is better than going into hell with two!
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.