Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The King of Shining-Greatness

24 The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and all who live in it. ² For He has built it upon the seas. He has set it upon the rivers. ³ Who may go up the mountain of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart. He who has not lifted up his soul to what is not true, and has not made false promises. ⁵ He will receive what is good from the Lord, and what is right and good from the God Who saves him. ⁶ Such is the family of those who look for Him, who look for Your face, O God of Jacob.

⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates. And be lifted up, O doors that last forever. And the King of shining-greatness will come in. ⁸ Who is the King of shining-greatness? The Lord strong and powerful. The Lord powerful in war. ⁹ Lift up your heads, O gates. Lift them up, O doors that last forever and the King of shining-greatness will come in. ¹⁰ Who is the King of shining-greatness? The Lord of All. He is the King of shining-greatness.

¹⁸ “As I live,” says the King, Whose name is the Lord of All, “one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, or like Carmel by the sea. ¹⁹ Get your things ready for when you are taken away, you who are living in Egypt. For Memphis will become a waste. It will be burned down and will have no people. ²⁰ Egypt is like a beautiful young cow. But a horsefly has come upon her from the north. ²¹ Her hired soldiers among her are like calves, ready to eat. For they also have turned back and have run away together. They did not stay in their places. For the day of their trouble has come upon them, the time of their punishment. ²² Egypt will sound like a snake moving away. For an army will come against her with axes, like those who cut down trees. ²³ They will cut down all her trees,” says the Lord, “even though there are so many. There are more trees than locusts, too many to number. ²⁴ The people of Egypt will be put to shame. She will be given over to the people of the north.” ²⁵ The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings. I will punish Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶ I will give them over to those who want to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his captains. After that, Egypt will be filled with people as it was long ago,” says the Lord.

God Will Save Israel

²⁷ “But do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant. Do not be troubled, O Israel. For I am going to save you from far away. I will bring your children back from the land where they are held. Jacob will return and have quiet and rest. And no one will make him afraid. ²⁸ O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid,” says the Lord, “for I am with you. I will make a complete end of all the nations where I have driven you. But I will not make a complete end of you. I will punish you so you will go the right way. I will not leave you without punishment.”

⁵ Then the One sitting on the throne said, “See! I am making all things new. Write, for these words are true and faithful.” ⁶ Then He said to me, “These things have happened! I am the First and the Last. I am the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty, I will give the water of life. It is a free gift. ⁷ He who has power and wins will receive these things. I will be his God and he will be My son. ⁸ But those who are afraid and those who do not have faith and the sinful-minded people and those who kill other people and those who do sex sins and those who follow witchcraft and those who worship false gods and all those who tell lies will be put into the lake of fire and sulphur. This is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven jars full of the seven last troubles came to me and said, “Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ I was carried away in the Spirit by the angel to a very high mountain. He showed me the Holy City of Jerusalem. It was coming out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It was filled with the shining-greatness of God. It shone like a stone worth much money, like a jasper stone. It was clear like glass. ¹² It had a very high wall, and there were twelve gates. Twelve angels stood by the gates. The names of the twelve family groups of the Jewish nation were written on the gates. ¹³ There were three gates on each side. There were three on the east side and three on the north side and three on the south side and three on the west side. ¹⁴ The walls were on twelve stones. The names of the twelve missionaries of the Lamb were written on the stones.

¹⁵ The angel had a stick in his hand. It was used to find out how big the city and its gates and the walls were. ¹⁶ He found out that the city was as wide as it was long and it was as high as it was wide. It was as long as a man could walk in fifty days. It was the same each way. ¹⁷ The angel found out that the walls were the same as a man taking seventy-two long steps. The angel used the same way to find out about the city as a man would have used. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold. This gold was as clear as glass. ¹⁹ The city was built on every kind of stone that was worth much money. The first stone was jasper. The second was sapphire. The third was chalcedony. The fourth was emerald. ²⁰ The fifth was sardonyx. The sixth was sardius. 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 was made from one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold. It was as clear as glass.

²² I did not see a house of God in the city. The All-powerful Lord God and the Lamb are the house of God in this city. ²³ There is no need for the sun and moon to shine in the city. The shining-greatness of God makes it full of light. The Lamb is its light. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light. The kings of the earth will bring their greatness into it. ²⁵ The gates are open all day. They will never be shut. There will be no night there. ²⁶ The greatness and honor of all the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing sinful will go into the city. No one who is sinful-minded or tells lies can go in. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can go in.