Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 23
The Good Shepherd
A Davidic psalm.
1 The Lord is my shepherd;(A)
there is nothing I lack.(B)
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures;(C)
He leads me beside quiet waters.(D)
3 He renews my life;
He leads me along the right paths[a]
for His name’s sake.(E)
4 Even when I go through the darkest valley,[b]
I fear no danger,
for You are with me;(F)
Your rod and Your staff[c]—they comfort me.(G)
39 “As for you, house of Israel, this is what the Lord God says: Go and serve your idols, each of you. But afterward you will surely listen to Me, and you will no longer defile My holy name with your gifts and idols.(A) 40 For on My holy mountain, Israel’s high mountain”—the declaration of the Lord God—“there the entire house of Israel, all of them,(B) will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your contributions and choicest gifts,(C) all your holy offerings. 41 When I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, I will accept you as a pleasing aroma. And I will demonstrate My holiness through you in the sight of the nations.(D) 42 When I lead you into the land of Israel, the land I swore[a] to give your fathers, you will know that I am Yahweh.(E) 43 There you will remember your ways and all your deeds that you have defiled yourselves with,(F) and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil things you have done.(G) 44 You will know that I am Yahweh,(H) house of Israel, when I have dealt with you because of My name(I) rather than according to your evil ways and corrupt acts.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
The First Seal on the Scroll
6 Then I saw[a] the Lamb open one of the seven[b] seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”[c][d] 2 I looked, and there was a white horse.(A) The horseman on it had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a victor to conquer.[e]
The Second Seal
3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”[f][g] 4 Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its horseman was empowered[h] to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him.(B)
The Third Seal
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!”[i][j] And I looked, and there was a black horse. The horseman on it had a set of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius—but do not harm the olive oil and the wine.”
The Fourth Seal
7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”[k][l] 8 And I looked, and there was a pale green[m] horse. The horseman on it was named Death, and Hades was following after him. Authority was given to them[n](C) over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.
The Fifth Seal
9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the people[o] slaughtered because of God’s word and the testimony they had.[p](D) 10 They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord,[q] the One who is holy and true, how long until You judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?” 11 So a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow slaves and their brothers, who were going to be killed just as they had been.
The Sixth Seal
12 Then I saw Him open[r] the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth(E) made of goat hair; the entire moon[s] became like blood; 13 the stars[t] of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; 14 the sky separated like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.(F) 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us(G) from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of Their[u] wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”(H)
The Sealed of Israel
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,(I) restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel, who had the seal of the living God rise up from the east. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered[v] to harm the earth and the sea: 3 “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed:
144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.