Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 98
A Psalm.
1 O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have wrought salvation for Him.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness has He openly shown in the sight of the nations.(A)
3 He has [earnestly] remembered His mercy and loving-kindness, His truth and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have witnessed the salvation of our God.(B)
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the voice of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it, the world, and those who dwell in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands; together let the hills sing for joy
9 Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge [and rule] the earth; with righteousness will He judge [and rule] the world, and the peoples with equity.
10 Then I looked and behold, in the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something looking like a sapphire stone, in form resembling a throne.
2 And [the Lord] spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, Go in among the whirling wheels under the cherubim; fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. And he went in before my eyes.(A)
3 Now the cherubim stood on the south side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud [the Shekinah] filled the inner court.
4 Then the glory of the Lord mounted up from the cherubim to stand over the threshold of the [Lord’s] house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory.(B)
5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.(C)
6 And when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, [the man] went in and stood beside a wheel.
7 And a cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
8 And the cherubim seemed to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
9 And I looked and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling chrysolite.
10 And as for their appearance, they four looked alike, as if a wheel had been within a wheel.
11 When they went, they went in any one of the four directions [in which their four individual faces were turned]; they did not turn as they went, but to the place to which the front wheel faced the others followed; they turned not as they went.
12 And their whole body, their backs, their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that each had.
13 As regarding the wheels [attached to them], they were called in my hearing the whirling wheels.
14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubim mounted upward. This is the [same] living creature [the four regarded as one] that I saw by the river Chebar [in Babylonia].(D)
16 And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them.
17 When those stood still, these stood still; and when those mounted up, these [the wheels] mounted up also, for the spirit of life was in these [wheels].(E)
18 Then the glory of the Lord [the Shekinah, cloud] went forth from above the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.
19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight, and they went forth with the wheels beside them; and they stood at the entrance of the East Gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel [the Shekinah, cloud] was over them.
20 Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He replied to them by saying, The kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed or with visible display,
21 Nor will people say, Look! Here [it is]! or, See, [it is] there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you].
22 And He said to the disciples, The time is coming when you will long to see [even] one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see [it].
23 And they will say to you, Look! [He is] there! or, Look! [He is] here! But do not go out or follow [them].
24 For like the lightning, that flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His [own] day.
25 But first He must suffer many things and be disapproved and repudiated and rejected by this age and generation.
26 And [just] as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the time of the Son of Man.
27 [People] ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, right up to the day when Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.(A)
28 So also [it was the same] as it was in the days of Lot. [People] ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 But on the [very] day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed [them] all.
30 That is the way it will be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.(B)
31 On that day let him who is on the housetop, with his belongings in the house, not come down [and go inside] to carry them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back.
32 Remember Lot’s wife!(C)
33 Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and [a]quicken it.
34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.
35 There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other will be left.
36 [b]Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.
37 Then they asked Him, Where, Lord? He said to them, Wherever the dead body is, there will the vultures or eagles be gathered together.
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