Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This is a song that David wrote.

The leader must use the music ‘Death of the son.’

A song to thank God^[a]

The vision about Jerusalem that God gave to Zechariah

2 Then I looked up and I saw a man in front of me. He had a line in his hand. The line was to measure something. ² I asked the man, ‘Where are you going?’ He said to me, ‘I am going to measure Jerusalem. I want to see how wide and how long it is.’ ³ The angel that talked with me went away. Another angel came to meet him. ⁴ The second angel said to the first angel, ‘Run to that young man with the line in his hand. Say that Jerusalem will be a city without walls. This is because of the many people and many animals that will live in it. ⁵ The Lord himself promises that he will be like a wall of fire round Jerusalem. He will shine as a beautiful light inside the city.’

Words for everyone to read

5 Again, I looked and I saw a large paper. It was moving through the air. There were many words on the paper.

² The angel said to me, ‘What do you see?’ And I answered, ‘I see a paper that is flying through the air. It is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.’

³ Then the angel said to me, ‘The words on the paper tell about bad events for the whole earth. This will be in future years. On one side of the paper, it says that a man must not rob anyone. If he does, people will send him away from his own country. On the other side of the paper, it says that a man must not speak false words. If he does, people will send him away from his own country. ⁴ The Lord Almighty says, “I will cause bad things to happen in the house of the man that robs anyone. I will cause bad things to happen in the house of the man that speaks false words. It is as if the words on the paper will destroy the houses of those bad people.” ’

Paul finishes his letter

¹² Our friends, we ask you to respect your leaders who work hard among you. They lead you and they teach you what is right on the Lord's behalf. ¹³ Show them how valuable they are to you. And love them very much because of the work that they do. Live at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ Friends, you must warn lazy people that they should work.^[a] If people are afraid, help them to be brave. If people are weak, take care of them. Be patient with everyone.

¹⁵ If someone does something bad against you, do not do anything bad against them in return. Never do that. Instead, always try to do good things that will help one other and help everyone else.

¹⁶ Always be happy. ¹⁷ Pray at all times. ¹⁸ Whatever may happen to you, continue to thank God. God wants you to do that, because you belong to Christ Jesus.