Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
95 Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord! Give a joyous shout in honor of the Rock of our salvation!
2 Come before him with thankful hearts. Let us sing him psalms of praise. 3 For the Lord is a great God, the great King of[a] all gods. 4 He controls the formation of the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains; all are his. 5 He made the sea and formed the land; they too are his. 6 Come, kneel before the Lord our Maker, 7 for he is our God. We are his sheep, and he is our Shepherd. Oh, that you would hear him calling you today and come to him!
17 After David had been living in his new palace for some time he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I’m living here in a cedar-paneled home while the Ark of the Covenant of God is out there in a tent!”
2 And Nathan replied, “Carry out your plan in every detail, for it is the will of the Lord.”
3 But that same night God said to Nathan, 4 “Go and give my servant David this message: ‘You are not to build my temple! 5 I’ve gone from tent to tent as my home from the time I brought Israel out of Egypt. 6 In all that time I never suggested to any of the leaders of Israel—the shepherds I appointed to care for my people—that they should build me a cedar-lined temple.’
7 “Tell my servant David, ‘The Lord of heaven says to you, I took you from being a shepherd and made you the king of my people. 8 And I have been with you everywhere you’ve gone; I have destroyed your enemies, and I will make your name as great as the greatest of the earth. 9 And I will give a permanent home to my people Israel and will plant them in their land. They will not be disturbed again; the wicked nations won’t conquer them as they did before 10 when the judges ruled them. I will subdue all of your enemies. And I now declare that I will cause your descendants to be kings of Israel just as you are.
11 “‘When your time here on earth is over and you die, I will place one of your sons upon your throne; and I will make his kingdom strong. 12 He is the one who shall build me a temple, and I will establish his royal line of descent forever. 13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son; I will never remove my mercy and love from him as I did from Saul. 14 I will place him over my people and over the kingdom of Israel forever—and his descendants will always be kings.’”
15 So Nathan told King David everything the Lord had said.
22 And he pointed out to me a river of pure Water of Life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, 2 coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew Trees of Life,[a] bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month; the leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.
3 There shall be nothing in the city that is evil; for the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be written on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will be their light; and they shall reign forever and ever.
6-7 Then the angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true: ‘I am coming soon!’[b] God, who tells his prophets what the future holds, has sent his angel to tell you this will happen soon. Blessed are those who believe it and all else written in the scroll.”
8 I, John, saw and heard all these things, and fell down to worship the angel who showed them to me; 9 but again he said, “No, don’t do anything like that. I, too, am a servant of Jesus as you are, and as your brothers the prophets are, as well as all those who heed the truth stated in this book. Worship God alone.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.