Book of Common Prayer

4 After this, I looked and saw a door open in heaven. I heard the same voice that I had heard before. It was like the sound of a horn or trumpet. It said, `Come up here. I will show you the things that must happen after this.'

² Right away, I was in the Spirit. I saw a throne or chief chair in heaven.

³ The one who sat on the throne looked very fine and bright. He looked like fine stones called jasper and carnelian. All around his chair was a rainbow that looked like a fine stone called emerald.

⁴ Around his throne I saw twenty-four other thrones. On them sat twenty-four leaders. They wore white clothes and had gold crowns on their heads.

⁵ From the throne came lightning, loud noises, and thunder. In front of the throne, seven bright lamps were burning. These lamps are the seven Spirits of God.

⁶ In front of the throne, it was like a sea of glass. It looked like a stone called crystal. Around the throne on the four sides of it were four living beings. They had many eyes in their faces and in their back.

⁷ The first living thing was like a lion. The second one was like a young cow. The third one had the face of a man. The fourth one was like a flying eagle.

⁸ Each of the four living beings had six wings. They had many eyes all over their bodies and under their wings. They say all the time, day and night: `Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God. He has all power. He always has lived. He lives now. And he always will live.'

⁹ The living beings give praise and honour and thanks to the one who sits on the throne and lives for ever and ever.

¹⁰ Every time they do this, the twenty-four leaders kneel down in front of the one who sits on the throne. And they worship the one who lives for ever and ever. They take the crowns off their heads and lay them down in front of his throne.

¹¹ They say: `Our Lord and God, it is right for you to have praise and honour and power. You made all things. They were made and have life because you wanted them.'

13 That day Jesus left the house and sat down by the sea side.

² Many people came to where he was. So he got into a boat and sat down. All the people stood on the land by the water.

³ He taught the people many things by telling them stories. He said, `Listen, a man went out to sow some seed.

⁴ As he sowed it, some of the seed fell on the road. Birds came and ate the seed.

⁵ Some seed fell on the stony ground. Not much earth covered the stones. The seed started to grow right away because it was not deep in the ground.

⁶ When the sun began to shine, it was too hot for the new plants. They died because they had no roots.

⁷ Some seed fell among the weeds. The weeds grew up and made the new plants die.

⁸ But some seed fell on good ground. The seed grew and the plants gave more seed. Some plants gave thirty seeds. Some gave sixty. And some gave a hundred.

⁹ Everyone who has ears, listen!'