Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
18 It is bad for you who want the day of the Lord to come. For what will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be as when a man runs away from a lion and is met by a bear. It will be as when a man goes home and rests with his hand against the wall, and gets bitten by a snake. 20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, very dark with nothing bright in it?
21 “I hate your special suppers. I will have nothing to do with them. And I am not pleased with your religious meetings. 22 Even if you give Me burnt gifts and grain gifts in worship, I will not receive them. I will not even look at the peace gifts of your fat animals. 23 Take the noise of your songs away from Me. I will not listen to the sound of your harps. 24 But let what is fair roll down like waters. Let what is right and good flow forever like a river.
Prayer for Help
70 O God, hurry to take me out of trouble. O Lord, hurry to help me! 2 Let those who want to kill me be ashamed and brought low. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away in shame. 3 Let those who say, “O, O!” be turned back because of their shame.
4 Let all who look for You be full of joy and be glad in You. And let those who love Your saving power always say, “Let God be honored.” 5 But I am poor and in need. Hurry to me, O God! You are my help and the One Who takes me out of trouble. O Lord, do not wait.
The Lord Is Coming Again
13 Christian brothers, we want you to know for sure about those who have died. You have no reason to have sorrow as those who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and then came to life again. Because we believe this, we know that God will bring to life again all those who belong to Jesus. 15 We tell you this as it came from the Lord. Those of us who are alive when the Lord comes again will not go ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud call. The head angel will speak with a loud voice. God’s horn will give its sounds. First, those who belong to Christ will come out of their graves to meet the Lord. 17 Then, those of us who are still living here on earth will be gathered together with them in the clouds. We will meet the Lord in the sky and be with Him forever. 18 Because of this, comfort each other with these words.
The Picture-Story of Ten Young Women
25 “At that time the holy nation of heaven will be like ten women who have never had men. They took their lamps and went out to meet the man soon to be married. 2 Five of them were wise and five were foolish. 3 The foolish women took their lamps but did not take oil with them. 4 The wise women took oil in a jar with their lamps. 5 They all went to sleep because the man to be married did not come for a long time.
6 “At twelve o’clock in the night there was a loud call, ‘See! The man soon to be married is coming! Go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all the women got up and made their lamps brighter. 8 The foolish women said to the wise women, ‘Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise women said, ‘No! There will not be enough for us and you. Go to the store and buy oil for yourselves.’ 10 While they were gone to buy oil, the man soon to be married came. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage. The door was shut.
11 “Later the foolish women came. They said, ‘Sir, Sir, open the door for us!’ 12 But he said to them, ‘For sure, I tell you, I do not know you!’ 13 So watch! You do not know what day or what hour the Son of Man is coming.
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