Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The call to stand fast
12 In all this stands the endurance of the saints—those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
The security of the saints
13 Then I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, “Write this! From henceforth happy are the dead who die in the Lord!” “Happy indeed,” says the Spirit, “for they rest from their labours and their deeds go with them!”
The harvest of God’s wrath
14 Once again I looked, and a white cloud appeared before me with someone sitting upon the cloud with the appearance of ‘the Son of Man’. He had a golden crown on his head, and held a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 Then another angel came out from the Temple, calling in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time of reaping has come and the harvest of the earth is fully ripe!”
16 Then the one sitting upon the cloud swung his sickle upon the earth, and the reaping of the earth was done.
17 Then another angel came out from the Temple in Heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
18 Yet another angel came out from the altar where he had command over the fire, and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and harvest the clusters from the vineyard of the earth for the grapes are fully ripe!”
19-20 Then the angel swung his sickle upon the earth and gathered the harvest of the earth’s vineyard, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The grapes were trodden outside the city, and out of the winepress flowed blood for two hundred miles in a stream as high as the horses’ bridles.
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.