Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord’s House Will Be Rebuilt

4 The angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me up as one might wake up someone who is sleeping. ² He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lamp stand with a bowl on top and seven lamps on it. There are seven spouts for each lamp that is on top of it. ³ There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴ I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What do these things mean, sir?”

⁵ Then the angel asked me, “Don’t you know what they mean?”

“No, sir,” I answered.

⁶ Then he replied, “This is the word the Lord spoke to Zerubbabel: You won’t ⌞succeed⌟ by might or by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Armies. ⁷ What a high mountain you are! In front of Zerubbabel you will become a plain. He will bring out the topmost stone with shouts of ‘Blessings, blessings on it!’ ”

²¹ In that hour the Holy Spirit filled Jesus with joy. Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from wise and intelligent people and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, this is what pleased you.

²² “My Father has turned everything over to me. Only the Father knows who the Son is. And no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son is willing to reveal him.”

²³ He turned to his disciples in private and said to them, “How blessed you are to see what you’ve seen. ²⁴ I can guarantee that many prophets and kings wanted to see and hear what you’ve seen and heard, but they didn’t.”