Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ But you, son of man, listen to what I say. Don’t be rebellious like those rebellious people. Open your mouth, and eat what I am giving to you.”

⁹ As I looked, I saw a hand stretched out toward me. In it was a scroll. ¹⁰ He spread the scroll in front of me. There was writing on the front and back. There were funeral songs, songs of mourning, and horrible things written on it.

3 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll. Then speak to the people of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

³ He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I’m giving you, and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ He said to me, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel, and speak my words to them. ⁵ I am not sending you to people whose language is hard to understand or difficult to speak. I am sending you to Israel. ⁶ I am not sending you to nations whose language is hard to understand, difficult to speak, or whose words you cannot understand. If I send you to those nations, they will certainly listen to you. ⁷ But the people of Israel will refuse to listen to you because they refuse to listen to me. All the people of Israel are very stubborn and hardheaded. ⁸ Yet, I will make you as stubborn and as hardheaded as they are. ⁹ I will make you as hard as a diamond, harder than stone. Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be terrified in their presence, even though they are rebellious people.”

¹⁰ He also said to me, “Son of man, take to heart everything I have spoken to you, and listen closely. ¹¹ Go to the exiles, to your people. Whether they listen or not, tell them, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says.’ ”

John Eats a Small Scroll

10 I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet were like columns of fire. ² He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. ³ Then he shouted in a loud voice as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke with voices of their own. ⁴ When the seven thunders spoke, I was going to write it down. I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.”

⁵ The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, “There will be no more delay. ⁷ In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed, as he had made this Good News known to his servants, the prophets.” ⁸ The voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again. It said, “Take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

¹⁰ I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it was bitter in my stomach. ¹¹ The seven thunders told me, “Again you must speak what God has revealed in front of many people, nations, languages, and kings.”