Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Davidic
A Man of Integrity Pleads for Justice
26 Vindicate me, Lord,
because I have walked in integrity;
I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Examine me, Lord, and inspect me!
Test my heart and mind.[a]
3 For your gracious love precedes me,
and I continuously walk according to your truth.
4 I do not sit with those committed to what is false,
nor do I travel with hypocrites.
5 I hate the company of those who practice evil,
nor do I sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands innocently.
I go around your altar, Lord,
7 so I may praise you loudly with thanksgiving
and declare all your wondrous acts.
8 Lord, I love the dwelling place that is your house,
the place where your glory resides.
9 Do not group me[b] with sinners,
nor include me[c] with men who shed blood.
10 Their hands are filled with wicked schemes,
and their right hands with bribes.
11 But as for me,
I walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me!
12 My feet stand on level ground;
among the worshiping congregations
I will bless the Lord.
Coming Judgment against Edom
1 Obadiah’s[a] vision:
This is what the Lord God has to say about Edom.
We have heard a report from the Lord,
and a messenger has been dispatched among the nations to say[b]
“Get up! Let us rise up against her to fight!”
God’s Announcement to Edom
2 “Look! I will make you insignificant among the nations;
you will be utterly despised.
3 The arrogance in your heart has deceived you,
who inhabit hidden places on rocky cliffs,
whose dwelling is in the heights,
who say continuously to yourself,[c]
‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
4 Though you soar high like the eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
I will bring you down even from there,”
declares the Lord.[d]
The Harvest from Edom’s Arrogance
5 “If thieves came against you,
if marauding gangs by night
—Oh, how you will be destroyed!—
Would they not steal only until they had enough?
If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave some[e] grapes to be gleaned?
6 “Oh, how Esau is ransacked,
how his hidden treasures are thoroughly[f] searched out!
7 All your allies will force you out of the land,[g]
your associates will deceive you and prevail against you.
Your friends[h] will lay out a trap for you,
and you will[i] never understand it!
8 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“will I not destroy the wise from Edom,
and those with understanding from Esau’s Mountain?
9 Teman, our mighty soldiers will be dismayed,
so that every man from Esau’s Mountain will be slaughtered.”[j]
The Vision of Tribulation Saints
9 After these things, I looked, and there was a crowd so large that no one was able to count it! They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb and were wearing white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice,
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the lamb!”
11 All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces in front of the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying,
“Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength
be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
13 “Who are these people wearing white robes,” one of the elders asked me, “and where did they come from?”
14 I told him, “Sir, you know.”
Then he told me, “These are the people who are coming out of the terrible suffering.[a] They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. 15 That is why:
“They are in front of the throne of God
and worship[b] him night and day in his Temple.
The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will never be hungry or thirsty again.
Neither the sun nor its heat will ever beat down on them,
17 because the lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd.
He will lead them to springs filled with the water of life,
and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”[c]
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