Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

3 To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:

² A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,^(A)

³ A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up,

⁴ A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶ A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,

⁷ A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,^(B)

⁸ A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.^(C)

⁹ What profit remains for the worker from his toil?

¹⁰ I have seen the painful labor and exertion and miserable business which God has given to the sons of men with which to exercise and busy themselves.

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

¹² I know that there is nothing better for them than to be glad and to get and do good as long as they live;

¹³ And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Psalm 8

To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.

² Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.^(A)

³ When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?

⁵ Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet:^(B)

⁷ All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!

21 Then I saw a new ^[a]sky (heaven) and a new earth, for the former ^[b]sky and the former earth had passed away (vanished), and there no longer existed any sea.^(A)

² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband;

³ Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God.^(B)

⁴ God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away.^(C)

⁵ And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine).^(D)

⁶ And He [further] said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I [Myself] will give water without price from the fountain (springs) of the water of Life.^(E)

³¹ When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

³² All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats;^(A)

³³ And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left.

³⁴ Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you ^[a]favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you ^[b]brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and ^[c]lodged Me,

³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me ^[d]with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.^(B)

³⁷ Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink?

³⁸ And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You?

³⁹ And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?

⁴⁰ And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [^[e]in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.^(C)

⁴¹ Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

⁴² For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,

⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me ^[f]with help and ministering care.

⁴⁴ Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?

⁴⁵ And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [^[g]in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me.^(D)

⁴⁶ Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life.^(E)