Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

11 Now the ^(A)Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and ^(B)Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. ² Then He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wrongdoing and ^(C)give evil advice in this city, ³ who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. ^[a]This ^(D)city is the pot and we are the meat.’ ⁴ Therefore, ^(E)prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man!”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “This is how you think, house of Israel, for ^(F)I know ^[b]your ^(G)thoughts. ⁶ You have ^(H)multiplied your slain in this city, and filled its streets with ^[c]them.” ⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord ^[d]God says: “Your ^(I)slain whom you have laid in the midst of ^[e]the city are the meat and this city is the pot; but ^[f]I will ^(J)bring you out of it. ⁸ You have ^(K)feared a sword; so I will ^(L)bring a sword upon you,” the Lord God declares. ⁹ “And I will bring you out of the midst of ^[g]the city, and hand you over to ^(M)strangers, and ^(N)execute judgments against you. ¹⁰ You will ^(O)fall by the sword. I will judge you to the ^(P)border of Israel; so you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will ^(Q)not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat in the midst of it; I will judge you to the border of Israel. ¹² So you will know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you ^(R)executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the ^(S)nations around you.”’”

¹³ Now it came about, as I prophesied, that ^(T)Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice, and said, “^(U)Oh, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete destruction?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, ^[h]your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep far from the Lord; this land has been given ^(V)to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^(W)sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will ^(X)gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ ¹⁸ When they come there, they will ^(Y)remove all its ^(Z)detestable things and all its abominations from it. ¹⁹ And I will ^(AA)give them one heart, and put a new spirit within ^[i]them. And I will remove the ^(AB)heart of stone from their flesh and give them a ^(AC)heart of flesh, ²⁰ so that they may ^(AD)walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^(AE)My people, and I shall be their God. ^21 [j]But as for those whose hearts go after their ^(AF)detestable things and abominations, I will ^[k](AG)bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

²² Then the cherubim ^(AH)lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and ^(AI)the glory of the God of Israel ^[l]hovered over them. ²³ The ^(AJ)glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^(AK)stood over the mountain which is east of the city. ²⁴ And the ^(AL)Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to ^[m]Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen ^[n](AM)left me. ²⁵ And I ^(AN)told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

The Scroll with Seven Seals

5 I saw ^[a]in the right hand of Him who ^(A)sat on the throne a ^[b](B)scroll written inside and on the back, ^(C)sealed up with seven seals. ² And I saw a ^(D)strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” ³ And no one ^(E)in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁴ Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁵ And one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the ^(F)Lion that is ^(G)from the tribe of Judah, the ^(H)Root of David, has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ And I saw ^[c]between the throne (with the four living creatures) and ^(I)the elders a ^(J)Lamb standing, as if ^(K)slaughtered, having seven ^(L)horns and ^(M)seven eyes, which are ^[d](N)the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ And He came and took ^(O)the scroll out of the right hand of Him who ^(P)sat on the throne. ⁸ When He had taken the scroll, the ^(Q)four living creatures and the ^(R)twenty-four elders ^(S)fell down before the ^(T)Lamb, each one holding a ^(U)harp and ^(V)golden bowls full of incense, which are the ^(W)prayers of the ^[e]saints. ⁹ And they *sang a ^(X)new song, saying,