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.

⁸ Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows? ⁹ For sure the islands will wait for Me. And the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from far away, and their silver and gold with them. They will come because of the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for He has brought great honor to you.

¹⁰ “People from strange lands will build up your walls, and their kings will help you. For I destroyed you in My anger, but in My favor I have had loving-pity on you. ¹¹ Your gates will always be open. They will not be closed day or night, so that men may bring the riches of the nations to you with the kings leading the way. ¹² For the nation which does not serve you will be destroyed. Those nations will all be destroyed. ¹³ The beauty of Lebanon will come to you. The juniper, the box tree and the cypress will be brought to make My holy place beautiful. I will make the place of My feet a beautiful place. ¹⁴ The sons of those who made it hard for you will come bowing to you. All those who hated you will bow down at your feet. And they will call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ “You have been left and hated, with no one passing through. But I will make you a pride forever, a joy for all your children’s children. ¹⁶ You will drink the milk of nations. You will drink from the breast of kings. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am the One Who saves you, and the One Who bought you and made you free, the Powerful One of Jacob.

Luke Writes to Theophilus

1 Many people have written about the things that have happened among us. ² Those who saw everything from the first and helped teach the Good News have passed these things on to us. ³ Dear Theophilus, I have looked with care into these things from the beginning. I have decided it would be good to write them to you one after the other the way they happened. ⁴ Then you can be sure you know the truth about the things you have been taught.