Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Worship God and obey him[a]
95 Come now! Let us sing together to worship the Lord!
We will shout aloud
to praise God, the strong Rock who makes us safe!
2 Let us come near to God
and thank him![b]
Let us sing songs to praise him,
because we are so happy!
3 Yes, the Lord is the great God.
He is the great king who rules over all gods.
4 The deepest places of the earth are in his hand.
The highest mountains belong to him.
5 The seas are his,
because he made them.
He also made the dry land,
with his own hands.
6 Come now! Let us bend down to worship him!
Let us bend our knees in front of the Lord.
He is the one who made us.
7 He is our God.
He takes care of us,
like a shepherd takes care of his sheep.[c]
As his sheep, he gives us what we need.
Today, you must listen to him
and obey him.
The Lord's covenant with David
17 King David was living in his palace. One day, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Now I am living in a beautiful palace that is made of cedar wood. But the Lord's Covenant Box is still in a tent.’
2 Nathan replied to David, ‘Do what you think is right. God will help you.’
3 But that night God said to Nathan, 4 ‘Go and tell my servant David, “The Lord says this: You are not the right man to build a house for me to live in. 5 From the time that I brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt until now, I have never lived in a house. I have lived in a tent as my home as I travelled from place to place. 6 I have moved about to many different places with the Israelites. I chose leaders to take care of my people, like shepherds take care of their sheep. But I never said to any of them, ‘You should have built a beautiful house of cedar wood for me.’ ”
7 So tell my servant David that the Lord Almighty says this: “I took you from the fields where you were taking care of sheep. I took you from there to become the ruler of my people Israel. 8 I have been with you everywhere that you have gone. I destroyed all your enemies that were attacking you. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be as great as the names of the earth's greatest men. 9 I have chosen a place where my people Israel will live. I have put them in that place, were they can be safe. They will not be afraid of trouble from any enemy. Wicked people will not hurt them any more. That happened in the past, 10 from the time that I chose leaders to rule my people Israel. But now I will cause all your enemies to be weak.
I say to you, David: the Lord will give you descendants who will rule as kings after you. That will be the royal house that I build for you.[a] 11 When you die, people will bury you in the grave of your ancestors. Then I will choose your descendant, one of your own sons, to become king. I will make his kingdom strong. 12 He is the man who will build a house for me. And I will cause his descendants to rule as kings for ever. 13 I will be his father and he will be my son. I will never remove my faithful love from him, as I took it away from the king who ruled before you. 14 I will cause him to rule my people and my kingdom for ever. Someone from his family will always be king.” ’
15 Nathan told David the whole message that the Lord had shown to him.
The river and the tree that give life
22 Then the angel showed me a river. It had water that gives true life to people. The water shone like clean glass. The river of water started from the throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule. It ran from the throne 2 along the middle of the city's biggest street. I saw a tree that was growing on each side of the river. It is the tree that gives people true life. It has 12 different kinds of fruit, a new fruit every month. The tree's leaves are like medicine. They make people of every nation well again.
3 Nothing that is in the city will be under a curse. The throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule will be in the city. God's servants will worship him there. 4 They will see his face. His name will be on the front of their heads. 5 There will be no more night, so nobody will need a lamp to make light. They will not need light from the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings for ever.
The final message
6 Then the angel said to me, ‘All these words are true and everyone should believe them. The Lord God uses his prophets to speak his messages. He has sent his angel to speak to his servants. The angel will now show them what must happen soon.’
7 Jesus says, ‘Listen! I will come soon.[a] God will bless everyone who obeys the words of the prophecy that is in this book.’
John finishes his book
8 I am John. I myself heard these things and I saw them. When I had heard them and I had seen them, I bent down low at the angel's feet. I wanted to worship him because he had shown these things to me. 9 But the angel said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I serve God like all God's prophets, who are believers like you. I serve God like everyone who obeys God's message that is written in this book. God is the one that you must worship!’
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