Book of Common Prayer

Vision 6: The Great White Throne Judgment

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne, and the One sitting on it, from Whose presence the earth fled, and the heaven, and a place was not found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead^[a]— the great and the small— standing before the throne. And books^[b] were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things having been written in the books, according-to^[c] their works. ¹³ And the sea gave the dead in it, and death and Hades gave the dead in them, and they were judged— each one— according-to their works. ¹⁴ And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death— the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone was not found having been written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Vision 7: The New Heaven And New Earth And New Jerusalem

21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed-away. And there is no longer a sea^[d]. ² And I saw the holy city— the new Jerusalem— coming down out of heaven from God, having been prepared like a bride having been adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying “Behold— the dwelling^[e] of God is with mankind. And He will dwell with them. And they themselves will be His peoples^[f]. And God Himself with them will be their God. ⁴ And He will wipe-away every tear from their eyes^[g]. And there will no longer be death, nor will there be mourning nor crying nor pain any longer, because the first things passed away”. ⁵ And the One sitting on the throne said, “Behold— I am making all things new”. And he^[h] says, “Write, because these words are trustworthy^[i] and true”. ⁶ And He said to me, “They^[j] are done^[k]. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one thirsting, I will give from the spring of the water of life as-a-gift^[l]. ⁷ The one overcoming will inherit these things, and I will be God to him and he will be a son to Me. ⁸ But for the cowardly^[m] ones, and unbelieving^[n] ones, and ones having been abominable^[o], and murderers, and sexually-immoral ones, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the liars— their part^[p] will be in the lake burning with fire and sulphur, which is the second death”.

The Birth of John And Jesus

⁵ In the days of Herod^[a], king of Judea:

There Was a Priest Named Zechariah Whose Wife Elizabeth Was Barren

There was a certain priest— Zechariah by name, from the division of Abijah— and a wife for him from the daughters of Aaron. And her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ And they were both righteous ones in the sight of God, walking in all the commandments and regulations of the Lord as blameless^[b] ones. ⁷ And there was not a child for them, because Elizabeth was barren. And they were both advanced in their days.

During His Temple Service, an Angel Tells Him Elizabeth Will Bear a Son

⁸ And it came about during his serving-as-priest before God in the order of his division, ⁹ that according to the custom^[c] of the priestly-office, he obtained-by-lot that he might offer-incense^[d], [after] having entered into the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ And the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the offering of incense. ¹¹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And having seen him, Zechariah was frightened, and fear fell upon him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be fearing, Zechariah, because your prayer was heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And there will be joy and gladness for you. And many will rejoice over his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will never drink wine and fermented-drink^[e], and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still of ^[f] his mother’s womb, ¹⁶ and he will turn-back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go-ahead before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn-back^[g] the hearts of fathers to their children, and to turn back disobedient ones with^[h] the understanding^[i] of righteous ones, to prepare a people having been made-ready for the Lord”. ¹⁸ And Zechariah said to the angel, “Based-on what shall I know this? For I am an old-man, and my wife is advanced in her days”. ¹⁹ And having responded, the angel said to him, “I am Gabriel, the one standing in the presence of God. And I was sent forth to speak to you, and to announce these things as-good-news to you. ²⁰ And behold— you shall be silent and not able to speak until which day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper-time”. ²¹ And the people were waiting for Zechariah. And they were wondering during his delaying in the temple. ²² And having come out, he was not able to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he was motioning to them and continuing to be mute.

Elizabeth Conceives And Hides It For Five Months

²³ And it came about that when the days of his service were fulfilled, he went to his house. ²⁴ And after these days, Elizabeth his wife conceived. And she was concealing herself for five months, saying ²⁵ that “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days in which He looked-upon me to take-away my reproach among people”.