Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise to Yahweh for His Salvation and Judgment
A psalm.[a]
98 Sing to[b] Yahweh a new song, for he has done wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm have secured his victory.
2 Yahweh has made known his salvation;[c]
to the eyes of the nations he has revealed his righteousness.
3 He has remembered his loyal love and his faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation[d] of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to Yahweh, all the earth.
Be cheerful[e] and sing for joy and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to Yahweh with lyre,
with lyre and melodious sound.
6 With trumpets and sound of horn,
shout joyfully before the king, Yahweh.
7 Let the sea with[f] its fullness roar,
the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands.
Let the hills sing joyfully together
9 before Yahweh, for he is coming
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
The Faithfulness of Three Young Israelites and God’s Deliverance
3 Nebuchadnezzar the king made a statue of gold. Its height was sixty cubits and its width was six cubits; he set it up in the valley of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent directions to assemble the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all of the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the province were assembled for the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and were standing before[a] the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then the herald proclaimed aloud,[b] “To you it is commanded,[c] O peoples, nations and people of all languages,[d] 5 that at the time that you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the drum and all kinds of music, you must fall down and you must worship the statue of gold[e] that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6 And whoever[f] does not fall down and worship will be thrown immediately[g] into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.” 7 Therefore,[h] at that time,[i] as soon as[j] all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations and people of all languages[k] were falling down and were worshiping the statue of gold[l] that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
8 Therefore[m] at this time[n] some astrologers[o] came forward and they denounced the Jews.[p] 9 They responded and said[q] to Nebuchadnezzar the king, “O king, may you live forever![r] 10 You, O king, have made a decree that everyone[s] who hears the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp and the drum and all kinds of music, he shall fall down and shall worship the statue of gold.[t] 11 And whoever[u] does not fall down[v] and worship shall be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 12 However there are Judean men whom you have appointed[w] over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—these men, O king, pay you no heed[x] and were not serving your god, and the statue of gold[y] that you set up they are not worshiping.”
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar said in rage and anger to bring in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; then they brought in these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you are not serving my god, and you are not worshiping the statue of gold[z] that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready so that when[aa] you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp and the drum and all kinds of music, you fall down and you worship the statue that I have made, that will be good. But if you do not worship it, immediately[ab] you will be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god[ac] who[ad] will rescue you from my hands?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, “We have no need on this matter to present a defense to you.[ae] 17 If it is so,[af] our God, whom we serve, is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire. And from your hand, O king, let him rescue us. 18 And if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods,[ag] and the statue of gold[ah] that you have set up we will not worship.”
Lament Over Babylon the Great
18 After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, who had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 And he cried out with a powerful voice, saying,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,
and it has become a dwelling place of demons
and a haunt of every unclean spirit
and a haunt of every unclean bird
and a haunt of every unclean and detested animal.
3 For all the nations have drunk[a]
from the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have become rich
from the power of her sensuality.”
4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out from her, my people,
so that you will not participate in her sins,
and so that you will not receive her plagues,
5 because her sins have reached up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Pay back to her as she herself also paid out,
and pay back double[b] according to her deeds;
in the cup that she mixed, mix double for her.
7 As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
give to her so much torment and mourning,
because in her heart she said,
‘I sit as a queen, and am not a widow,
and I will never see mourning!’
8 Because of this her plagues will come in one day—
death and mourning and famine—
and she will be burned up with fire,
because the Lord God who passes judgment on her is powerful!”
9 And the kings of the earth will weep and mourn over her, those who committed sexual immorality and lived sensually with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing far off[c] because of the fear of her torment, saying,
“Woe, woe, the great city,
Babylon the powerful city,
because in one hour your judgment has come!”
19 And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying,
“Woe, woe, the great city,
in which all those who had ships on the sea
became rich from her prosperity,
because in one hour she has been laid waste!”
20 Rejoice over her, heaven
and the saints and the apostles and the prophets,
because God has pronounced your judgment on her!”
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