Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Welcome for God into the Temple
A psalm of David.
24 The earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it—
the world and all its people.
2 He built it on the waters
and set it on the rivers.
3 Who may go up on the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy Temple?
4 Only those with clean hands and pure hearts,
who have not worshiped idols,
who have not made promises in the name of a false god.
5 They will receive a blessing from the Lord;
the God who saves them will declare them right.
6 They try to follow God;
they look to the God of Jacob for help. Selah
7 Open up, you gates.
Open wide, you aged doors
and the glorious King will come in.
8 Who is this glorious King?
The Lord, strong and mighty.
The Lord, the powerful warrior.
9 Open up, you gates.
Open wide, you aged doors
and the glorious King will come in.
10 Who is this glorious King?
The Lord All-Powerful—
he is the glorious King. Selah
18 The King’s name is the Lord All-Powerful.
He says, “As surely as I live,
a powerful leader will come.
He will be like Mount Tabor among the mountains,
like Mount Carmel by the sea.
19 People of Egypt, pack your things
to be taken away as captives,
because Memphis will be destroyed.
It will be a ruin, and no one will live there.
20 “Egypt is like a beautiful young cow,
but a horsefly is coming
from the north to attack her.
21 The hired soldiers in Egypt’s army
are like fat calves,
because even they all turn and run away together;
they do not stand strong against the attack.
Their time of destruction is coming;
they will soon be punished.
22 Egypt is like a hissing snake that is trying to escape.
The enemy comes closer and closer.
They come against Egypt with axes
like men who cut down trees.
23 They will chop down Egypt’s army
as if it were a great forest,” says the Lord.
“There are more enemy soldiers than locusts;
there are too many to count.
24 The people of Egypt will be ashamed.
They will be handed over to the enemy from the north.”
25 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Very soon I will punish Amon, the god of the city of Thebes. And I will punish Egypt, her kings, her gods, and the people who depend on the king. 26 I will hand those people over to their enemies, who want to kill them. I will give them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But in the future, Egypt will live in peace as it once did,” says the Lord.
A Message to Israel
27 “People of Jacob, my servants, don’t be afraid;
don’t be frightened, Israel.
I will surely save you from those faraway places
and your children from the lands where they are captives.
The people of Jacob will have peace and safety again,
and no one will make them afraid.
28 People of Jacob, my servants, do not be afraid,
because I am with you,” says the Lord.
“I will completely destroy the many different nations
where I scattered you.
But I will not completely destroy you.
I will punish you fairly,
but I will not let you escape your punishment.”
5 The One who was sitting on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.”
6 The One on the throne said to me, “It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega,[a] the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. 7 Those who win the victory will receive this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But cowards, those who refuse to believe, who do evil things, who kill, who sin sexually, who do evil magic, who worship idols, and who tell lies—all these will have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last troubles came to me, saying, “Come with me, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And the angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It was shining with the glory of God and was bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 The city had a great high wall with twelve gates with twelve angels at the gates, and on each gate was written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14 The walls of the city were built on twelve foundation stones, and on the stones were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod made of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city was built in a square, and its length was equal to its width. The angel measured the city with the rod. The city was 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high. 17 The angel also measured the wall. It was 216 feet high, by human measurements, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city walls were decorated with every kind of jewel. The first foundation was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was chalcedony, the fourth was emerald, 20 the fifth was onyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate having been made from a single pearl. And the street of the city was made of pure gold as clear as glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city’s temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God is its light, and the Lamb is the city’s lamp. 24 By its light the people of the world will walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 The city’s gates will never be shut on any day, because there is no night there. 26 The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing unclean and no one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter the city.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.