Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Vision of the Golden Menorah

4 Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me up as if I had been asleep. ² Then he asked me, “What do you see?”

So I said, “I have been watching—and look!—there is a menorah made completely of gold with a bowl on top of it. And there are seven lights on it, along with seven feeder channels to the lamps, which are also on top of it. ³ Two olive trees are near it, one on the right side of the bowl and one on the left.”

⁴ Then I asked the angel who had been speaking with me, “Sir,^[a] what are these?”

⁵ The angel who had been speaking with me answered by asking, “You don’t know what these mean, do you?”

So I responded, “No, sir.”

The Lord’s First Charge to Zerubbabel

⁶ Then he replied to me, “This is this message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by valor nor by strength, but only by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. ⁷ ‘Who are you, great mountain? You will become a plain in Zerubbabel’s presence, and he will position the capstone, exulting over it, “How beautiful! How beautiful!”’”

Jesus Praises the Father^(A)

²¹ At that moment, the Holy Spirit^[a] made Jesus^[b] extremely joyful, so Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you. ²² All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows^[c] who the Father is except the Son and the person to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³ Then turning to his disciples in private, he told them, “How blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ Because I tell you, many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you see but didn’t see them, and to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.”