Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Song of Praise to the Lord for His Salvation and Judgment
A Psalm.
98 Oh, (A)sing to the Lord a new song!
For He has (B)done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
2 (C)The Lord has made known His salvation;
(D)His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the [a]nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
(E)All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.
The Glory Departs from the Temple
10 And I looked, and there in the (A)firmament[a] that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2 (B)Then He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with (C)coals of fire from among the cherubim, and (D)scatter them over the city.” And he went in as I watched.
3 Now the cherubim were standing on the [b]south side of the [c]temple when the man went in, and the (E)cloud filled the inner court. 4 (F)Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the [d]temple; and (G)the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s (H)glory. 5 And the (I)sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like (J)the voice of Almighty God when He speaks.
6 Then it happened, when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside the wheels. 7 And the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed with linen, who took it and went out. 8 (K)The cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
9 (L)And when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a (M)beryl stone. 10 As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 11 (N)When they went, they went toward any of their four directions; they did not turn aside when they went, but followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. 12 And their whole body, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the four had, were (O)full of eyes all around. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my [e]hearing, “Wheel.”
14 (P)Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 And the cherubim were lifted up. This was (Q)the living creature I saw by the River Chebar. 16 (R)When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them. 17 (S)When [f]the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when [g]one was lifted up, [h]the other lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.
18 Then (T)the glory of the Lord (U)departed from the threshold of the [i]temple and stood over the cherubim. 19 And (V)the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the (W)east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
The Coming of the Kingdom(A)
20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 (B)nor will they say, [a]‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, (C)the kingdom of God is [b]within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, (D)“The days will come when you will desire 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, [c]‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 (F)For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 (G)But first He must suffer many things and be (H)rejected by this generation. 26 (I)And as it (J)was in the (K)days of (L)Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the (M)day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and (N)destroyed them all. 28 (O)Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on (P)the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man (Q)is revealed.
31 “In that day, he (R)who is on the housetop, and his [d]goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 (S)Remember Lot’s wife. 33 (T)Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 (U)I tell you, in that night there will be two [e]men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 (V)Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 [f]Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”
37 And they answered and said to Him, (W)“Where, Lord?”
So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.