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.

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the King in His beauty. They will see a land that is far away. ¹⁸ Your heart will think about fear, asking, “Where is he who numbers? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who numbers the towers?” ¹⁹ You will not see people who show no pity, people whose language no one knows, whose strange tongue you cannot understand. ²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our special suppers! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting place, a tent that will not be moved. Its tie-downs will never be pulled up, and none of its ropes will be broken. ²¹ But there the Lord in His great power will be for us. It will be a place of rivers and wide waterways, where no rowboats can go, and where no powerful ships can pass. ²² For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our law-giver. The Lord is our king. He will save us.

⁸ It was I, John, who heard and saw these things. Then I got down at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. I was going to worship him. ⁹ But he said to me, “No! You must not do that. I am a servant together with you and with your Christian brothers and the early preachers and with all those who obey the words in this Book. You must worship God!” ¹⁰ Then he said to me, “Do not lock up the words of this Book. These things will happen soon. ¹¹ And let the sinful people keep on being sinful. Let the dirty-minded people keep on being dirty-minded. And let those right with God keep on being right with God. Let the holy people keep on being holy.

¹² “See! I am coming soon. I am bringing with Me the reward I will give to everyone for what he has done. ¹³ I am the First and the Last. I am the beginning and the end. ¹⁴ Those who wash their clothes clean are happy (who are washed by the blood of the Lamb). They will have the right to go into the city through the gates. They will have the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life. ¹⁵ Outside the city are the dogs. They are people who follow witchcraft and those who do sex sins and those who kill other people and those who worship false gods and those who like lies and tell them.

¹⁶ “I am Jesus. I have sent My angel to you with these words to the churches. I am the beginning of David and of his family. I am the bright Morning Star.”

¹⁷ The Holy Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who wants to drink of the water of life, drink it. It is a free gift.

¹⁸ I am telling everyone who hears the words that are written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written in this book, God will add to him the kinds of trouble that this book tells about. ¹⁹ If anyone takes away any part of this book that tells what will happen in the future, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the Holy City, which are told about in this book.

²⁰ He Who tells these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Let it be so. Come, Lord Jesus. ²¹ May all of you have the loving-favor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let it be so.