Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This is a song that David wrote.
The great King[a]
24 The whole earth belongs to the Lord.
Everybody who lives in the world
and all the things in it belong to him.
2 The Lord built the foundation of the earth.
He built it on the seas and the rivers.[b]
3 Who may climb up the hill of the Lord?[c]
Who can stand in his holy place?[d]
4 Only the person who does what is right,
and who has pure thoughts.
He does not worship idols
and he does not make false promises.
5 The Lord will bless people who are like that.
God will save them.
He will say that they are not guilty of wrong things.
6 People like that come to God.
They want to please him.
They like to pray to the God of Jacob.
Selah.
7 Old gates of the city, wake up!
Open now, to leave a wide path!
Then the great king will come in.
8 Who is this great king?
He is the Lord,
who is strong and powerful.
He is the Lord,
who wins against his enemies.
9 Be ready, you old gates of the city!
Be ready to open wide!
Then the great king will come in.
10 Who is this great king?
He is the Almighty Lord.
Yes, he is the great king!
Selah.
18 The Lord Almighty is the great King. He says,
‘I promise you, as surely as I live,
that a powerful army will come to fight against you!
They will look as great as Tabor looks among the other mountains.
They will seem like Carmel mountain that stands beside the sea.
19 You dear people of Egypt, be ready to travel as prisoners to a foreign land!
Your enemy will destroy Memphis city.
It will become a heap of stones where nobody lives.
20 Egypt is like a beautiful young cow.
But an army from the north will attack her, like a crowd of flies that bite.
21 Egypt has paid soldiers from other countries to help her.
But they are like fat calves that are too weak to fight.
They will not stand and fight, but they will turn and run away.
Yes, the day of Egypt's punishment has arrived!
Their enemy has come to destroy them.
22 Egypt's people will run away, like a snake along the ground.
The enemy's strong army will march forward.
They will attack Egypt with axes, like men who cut down trees.
23 Egypt's soldiers are as many as the trees in a great forest.
But the enemy's soldiers will cut them down.
Their army is like a hungry crowd of locusts.
They are too many to count.
24 The people of Egypt will be ashamed.
They will be under the power of the people from the north.’
That is what the Lord says.
25 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, also says, ‘Now I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes city, and the other gods of Egypt. I will also punish Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and Egypt's other rulers. I will punish Egypt's people and everyone who trusts in Pharoah's power. 26 I will put them under the power of King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, who want to kill them. But in later years, people will again live in Egypt, as they did before.’ That is what the Lord says.
The Israelites will live in peace
27 ‘My servants, descendants of Jacob, do not be afraid.[a]
People of Israel, do not be upset.
You have been prisoners in countries far away.
But I will rescue you and your descendants.
You will return to your own land and you will live in peace.
Jacob's descendants will be safe and nobody will make them afraid.
28 So do not be afraid, descendants of my servant Jacob.
I am with you to help you.
I may completely destroy all the nations where I send you to live.
But I will never completely destroy you.
I will certainly punish you, to teach you what is right.
But I will do that in a fair way.’
That is what the Lord says.
5 God, who was sitting on the throne, said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, because these words are true. Everyone should believe them.’
6 He also said to me, ‘Everything is now done! I caused all things to begin and I will cause the end of all things. I am the beginning and the end. If anyone is thirsty, I will give them water to drink. Nobody will have to pay anything for it. That water comes from a spring of water that gives life to people. 7 Everyone who wins against Satan will receive all these things from me. I will be their God and they will be my children.
8 But I will punish other people. They include:
people who are afraid of trouble;
people who do not believe in Jesus;
people who do disgusting things;
people who murder other people;
people who have sex in a wrong way;
people who use magic to hurt people;
people who worship idols;
people who tell lies.
All these people will go into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. That is the second death for people.’
New city of Jerusalem
9 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls that were full of the seven final troubles came to me. He said, ‘Come with me! I will show you the bride who will become the Lamb's wife.’
10 Then God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a great mountain that was very high. He showed me God's own holy city, Jerusalem. The city was coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It had the bright glory of God. It shone like a valuable jewel that is called jasper. It shone like clean glass. 12 The city had a very big, high wall round it. The wall had 12 gates in it. 12 angels stood at the 12 gates. The names of the 12 tribes of Israel's people were written on the 12 gates. 13 There were three gates on each side of the city:
three gates were on the east side,
three gates were on the north side,
three gates were on the south side,
three gates were on the west side.
14 The city's wall has a foundation of 12 strong stones. The names of the Lamb's 12 apostles were written on those 12 stones.[a]
15 The angel who talked to me had a long gold stick. He used it to measure things. So he could measure the city and its gates and its walls. 16 The shape of the city was a square. It was as long as it was wide. The angel measured the city with his stick. It was 12,000 stadia (2,400 kilometres) long. It was as wide and as high as it was long. 17 He also measured its wall. The size of the wall was 144 cubits (65 metres). That is the way that humans measure things. The angel also measured in the same way.[b]
18 The wall was made from the jewel that is called jasper. The city was made from pure gold. The light shone through it, as light shines through clean glass. 19 The strong stones that were the foundation of the city's wall were very beautiful. They had valuable jewels in them that were different colours. Each great stone had its own special jewel. They were called:
1. Jasper;
2. Sapphire;
3. Agate;
4. Emerald;
20 5. Onyx;
6. Carnelian;
7. Quartz;
8. Beryl;
9. Topaz;
10. Chrysoprase;[c]
11. Jacinth;
12. Amethyst.
21 The 12 gates were 12 pearls. They had used a single pearl to make each gate. The city's biggest street was made from pure gold. The light shone through it, as light shines through clean glass.
22 When I looked, I saw that there was no temple in the city. The Lord God, who has all power and authority, is there himself. The Lamb is also there. So people do not need a special place to worship him there. 23 Also, the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it. God's bright glory gives light to the city. The Lamb is the lamp that gives it light.
24 People from all the world's nations will live in the city's light. The earth's rulers will bring all their valuable things into it. 25 Nobody will ever shut the city's gates at the end of the day. It will always be day and there will be no night there. 26 People from all the world's nations will bring their beautiful and valuable things into the city. 27 But nothing that is bad or unclean will ever go in there. Nobody who does anything that God hates will go into the city. Nobody who tells lies will go in. Only those people with their names written in the Lamb's book of life can go in there.[d]
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