Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Call to Praise the Lord for His Righteousness.
A Psalm.
98 Sing a (A)new song to the Lord,
For He has done (B)wonderful things,
His (C)right hand and His (D)holy arm have [a]gained the victory for Him.
2 (E)The Lord has made His salvation known;
He has (F)revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has (G)remembered His graciousness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
(H)All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple
10 Then I looked, and behold, in the [a](A)expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a (B)sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a (C)throne, appeared above them. 2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the (D)whirling wheels under the [b]cherubim and fill your hands with (E)coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.
3 Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the [c]temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the (F)inner courtyard. 4 Then the (G)glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the (H)temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the (I)brightness of the glory of the Lord. 5 Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the (J)voice of [d]God Almighty when He speaks.
6 And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel. 7 Then the cherub reached out with his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some coals and put them into the hands of the one clothed in linen; and he took them and went out. 8 The cherubim appeared to have something like a human hand under their wings.
9 Then I looked, and behold, (K)four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a [e](L)Tarshish stone. 10 And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel. 11 When they moved, they went (M)in any of their four [f]directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which [g]they faced, without turning as they went. 12 And their (N)whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the (O)wheels were [h]covered with eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. 13 The wheels were called, [i]as I heard, the [j]whirling wheels. 14 And (P)each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a human, the third, the face of a lion, and the fourth, the face of an eagle.
15 Then the cherubim rose up. They are the (Q)living beings that I saw by the river Chebar. 16 Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would move beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels themselves would not turn away from beside them. 17 When [k]the cherubim (R)stood still, [l]the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, [m]the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.
18 Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood (S)over the cherubim. 19 When (T)the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the ground in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel [n]hovered over them.
Second Coming Foretold
20 Now He was questioned by the Pharisees (A)as to when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with [a](B)signs that can be observed; 21 nor will (C)they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is [b]in your midst.”
22 And He said to the disciples, “(D)The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 (E)And they will say to you, ‘Look there,’ or, ‘Look here!’ Do not leave, and do not run after them. 24 (F)For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part [c]of the sky, shines to the other part [d]of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 (G)But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 (H)And just as it happened (I)in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man: 27 people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 [e]It was the same as happened in (J)the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building; 29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and [f]brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be [g]just the same on the day that the Son of Man (K)is revealed. 31 On that day, the one who will be (L)on the [h]housetop, [i]with his goods in the house, must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one in the field must not turn back. 32 (M)Remember Lot’s wife. 33 (N)Whoever strives to [j]save his [k]life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 (O)There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 36 [[l](P)Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37 And responding, they *said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “(Q)Where the body is, there also the [m]vultures will be gathered.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.