Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Majesty of God

¹⁶ Other people from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David at his protected place. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them. He said to them, “If you have come peacefully to help me, I welcome you. Join me. But you might have come to turn me over to my enemies, even though I have done nothing wrong. If you do this, the God of our ancestors will see this and punish you.”

¹⁸ Then the Spirit entered Amasai, the leader of the Thirty. Amasai said:

So David welcomed these men. He made them leaders of his army.

¹⁹ Some of the men from Manasseh also joined David. They joined him when he went with the Philistines to fight Saul. But David and his men did not really help the Philistines. After talking about it, the Philistine leaders decided to send David away. They said, “If David goes back to his master Saul, we will be killed!” ²⁰ The men from Manasseh joined David when he went to Ziklag. These were the men: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu and Zillethai. Each of these men was a leader of a thousand men from Manasseh. ²¹ All these men of Manasseh were brave soldiers. They helped David fight against groups of men who went around the country robbing people. These soldiers became commanders in David’s army. ²² Every day more men joined David. So his army became large. It was like the army of God.

⁵ The One who was sitting on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.”

⁶ The One on the throne said to me: “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega,^[a] the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. ⁷ Anyone who wins the victory will receive this. And I will be his God, and he will be my son. ⁸ But those who are cowards, who refuse to believe, who do evil things, who kill, who are sexually immoral, who do evil magic, who worship idols, and who tell lies—all these will have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁹ One of the seven angels came to me. This was one of the angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last troubles. He said, “Come with me. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ The angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. It was coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It was shining with the glory of God. It was shining bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper. It was clear as crystal. ¹² The city had a great high wall with 12 gates. There were 12 angels at the gates. On each gate was written the name of 1 of the 12 tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. ¹⁴ The walls of the city were built on 12 foundation stones. On the stones were written the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.