Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 98
A Psalm.
1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song,
for He has done marvelous deeds!
His right hand and His holy arm
have accomplished deliverance.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy
and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the deliverance of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth;
break out in loud songs, and sing praises.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of melody,
6 with trumpets and sound of the horn;
make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it,
the world and those who live in it;
8 let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills be joyful together
9 before the Lord,
for He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He will judge the world,
and the peoples with justice.
The Glory of God Leaves the Temple
10 Then I looked, and in the expanse that was above the heads of the cherubim there appeared over them, as it were, a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2 And He spoke to the man clothed with linen and said, “Go in between the wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.
3 Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the temple. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord. 5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like the voice of the Almighty God when He speaks.
6 When He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, “Take fire from between the wheels, from among the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside the wheel. 7 One cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubs, and took some, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed with linen, who took it and went out. 8 There appeared among the cherubim the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
9 Then I looked, and there were the four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub. And the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a beryl stone. 10 As for their appearances, all four had one likeness, as if one wheel had been in the middle of a wheel. 11 When they went, they went on their four sides. They did not turn as they went, but they followed to the place wherever the head looked. They did not turn as they went. 12 Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels that the four had were full of eyes all round. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing the whirling wheels. 14 Each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living creatures that I saw by the River Kebar. 16 When the cherubim went, the wheels went by them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also would not turn from beside them. 17 When the cherubim stood, the wheels stood. And when they rose up, the wheels also rose up with them. For the spirit of the living creatures was in them.
18 Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. 19 The cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them. They stood at the door of the east gate of the house of the Lord; and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
The Coming of the Kingdom(A)
20 When He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation. 21 Nor will they say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For remember, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look here,’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not follow after them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the heavens from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating, drinking, marrying, and were given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “Likewise as it was in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. 29 But on the day that Lot departed from Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away. And likewise let him who is in the field not return to the things behind. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two men will be in one bed; the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; the one will be taken and the other will be left. 36 Two men will be in the field; the one will be taken and the other will be left.”
37 They asked, “Where, Lord?”
He replied, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.