Book of Common Prayer

¹¹ And I saw a great white seat, and him that sat on it, from whose face both the earth and heaven fled away; and their place was found no more. ¹² And I saw the dead, both great and small, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by those things that were written in the books, according to their deeds. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead that were in her, and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them. And they were judged, every person according to his deeds. ¹⁴ And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire; this is the second death. ¹⁵ And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

In this chapter is described the new and spiritual Jerusalem.

21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were vanished away; and there was no more sea.  ² And I, John, saw that holy city, new Jerusalem, come down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride made beautiful for her husband. ³ And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; neither will there be any more pain. For the former things are gone. ⁵ And he that sat upon the seat said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are faithful and true.

⁶ And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him who is a-thirst of the well of the water of life, free. ⁷ He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be my child. ⁸ But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

⁵ There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the shift of Abijah. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ Both were perfect before God, and walked in all the laws and observances of the Lord, and no man could find fault with them. ⁷ And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were well stricken in age.

⁸ And it came to pass as he executed the priest’s office before God, when his shift came ⁹ according to the custom of the priest’s office, the lot fell to him to burn incense. And he went into the temple of the Lord, ¹⁰ and the whole host of the people were outside in prayer while the incense was a-burning. ¹¹ And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And when Zacharias saw him, he was startled, and fear came on him.

¹³ And the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to their Lord God. ¹⁷ And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelievers to the wisdom of the just men: to make the people ready for the Lord.

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be sure of this, seeing that I am old, and my wife well stricken in years?

¹⁹ And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, and have been sent to speak to you and to show you these glad tidings. ²⁰ And behold, you shall be dumb and not able to speak until the time that these things are performed, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their season.

²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and wondered that he was so long in the temple. ²² And when he came out, he could not speak to them, whereby they perceived that he had seen some vision in the temple. And he gestured to them and remained speechless.

²³ And eventually, as soon as the time of his ministration was up, he departed home to his own house. ²⁴ And after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, ²⁵ Thus has God dealt with me in the days when he looked on me, to take from me the disgrace that I suffered among men.