Book of Common Prayer

The song of the 144,000

14  Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on a hill called Zion. With him were one hundred and forty-four thousand people. They had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

² I heard a sound from the sky like the sound of much water flowing, and like the sound of much thunder. The sound I heard was like people playing music on their harps.

³ They were singing a new song in front of God's chief chair, in front of the four living beings and the leaders. No one could learn that song but the one hundred and forty-four thousand people. They have been bought from the earth.

⁴ They are the people who have not had sex with women. They are clean. They are the people who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They lived among people on earth. They have been bought from the earth. They are the first among men to have been bought for God and the Lamb.

⁵ They never told lies. They are found to be without any wrong ways as they stand before the throne of God.

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying across the sky. He had good news that will last for ever to tell the people who live on the earth. The good news is for every country, tribe, language, and nation.

⁷ He said in a loud voice, `Respect and honour God and give him glory! The time has come for him to judge people, to tell them how good or bad they are. Worship him. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and the rivers.'

¹³ I heard a voice from the sky. It said, `Write this: From now on, happy are those who die believing in the Lord.' `Yes,' says the Spirit. `They will have rest from their troubles. The good things they have done will go with them.'

¹³ `You are like salt in the world. If salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again? Salt that has no taste is good for nothing. The only thing to do is to throw it out on the road.

¹⁴ `You are like light in the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.

¹⁵ So also with a lamp. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. But they put it on the place for a lamp. Then all the people in the house can see its light.

¹⁶ So, let your light shine to all people. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will praise your Father in heaven.'

¹⁷ `Do not think that I have come to take away the law and the writings of the prophets. No, I have not come to take them away. But I have come to do what they say must be done.

¹⁸ I tell you the truth. Until the sky and the earth are taken away, not one small part of the law will be taken away, until everything has been done.

¹⁹ So anyone who does not obey one of the smallest laws, and teaches other people not to obey it, will have the smallest part in the kingdom of heaven. But any one who obeys and teaches the law, will have a big part in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ I tell you, you must do much better than the scribes and Pharisees. If you do not, then you will never go into the kingdom of heaven.'