Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

93 Jehovah is King! He is robed in majesty and strength. The world is his throne.^[a]

² O Lord, you have reigned from prehistoric times, from the everlasting past. ³ The mighty oceans thunder your praise. ⁴ You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world! ⁵ Your royal decrees cannot be changed. Holiness is forever the keynote of your reign.

¹⁶ Others came to David from Benjamin and Judah. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them and said, “If you have come to help me, we are friends; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies when I am innocent, then may the God of our fathers see and judge you.”

¹⁸ Then the Holy Spirit came upon them, and Amasai, a leader of The Thirty, replied,

So David let them join him, and he made them captains of his army.

¹⁹ Some men from Manasseh deserted the Israeli army and joined David just as he was going into battle with the Philistines against King Saul. But as it turned out, the Philistine generals refused to let David and his men go with them. After much discussion they sent them back, for they were afraid that David and his men would imperil them by deserting to King Saul.

²⁰ Here is a list of the men from Manasseh who deserted to David as he was en route to Ziklag: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, Zillethai.

Each was a high-ranking officer of Manasseh’s troops. ²¹ They were brave and able warriors, and they assisted David when he fought against the Amalek raiders at Ziklag.^[a]

²² More men joined David almost every day until he had a tremendous army—the army of God.

⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true: ⁶ It is finished! I am the A and the Z—the Beginning and the End. I will give to the thirsty the springs of the Water of Life—as a gift! ⁷ Everyone who conquers will inherit all these blessings, and I will be his God and he will be my son. ⁸ But cowards who turn back from following me, and those who are unfaithful to me, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those conversing with demons, and idol worshipers and all liars—their doom is in the Lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This is the Second Death.”

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had emptied the flasks containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me and I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

¹⁰ In a vision he took me to a towering mountain peak, and from there I watched that wondrous city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the skies from God. ¹¹ It was filled with the glory of God and flashed and glowed like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper. ¹² Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. ¹³ There were three gates on each side—north, south, east, and west. ¹⁴ The walls had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.