Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 93
The Lord Rules the World
1 The Lord reigns. He is clothed in majesty.
The Lord is clothed—he wears strength like a belt.
Yes, the world stands firm. It will not be moved.
2 Your throne was established long ago.
You are from eternity.
3 The waves[a] have lifted up, O Lord,
the waves have lifted up their voice.
The waves roar loudly.
4 Mightier than the thundering of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty.
5 Your testimonies stand very firm.
Holiness beautifies your house for endless days, O Lord.
Asa’s Reformation
15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2 He went out to meet Asa and said this to him:
Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin.
The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he is there to be found. If you forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach, and without the law. 4 Then in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel. They sought him, and he was found by them. 5 During those times there was no peace for those who went out and came in, because there were great disturbances affecting all the inhabitants of the lands.
6 It was nation against nation and city against city. They were broken in pieces because God troubled them with every kind of distress. 7 But take courage and do not let your hands be slack, because there will be a reward for your work.
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of[a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He put away the disgusting idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in front of the porch of the Lord’s house.
9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those who had settled among them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, because people from Israel had gone over to Asa in great numbers since they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 On that day they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep from the plunder they had brought.
12 They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. 13 Anyone who did not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old,[b] man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, and with trumpets and ram’s horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, because they had sworn with all their heart, and they very eagerly sought the Lord. He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest on every side.
15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod so that he could measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square. Its length and width are equal. He measured the city with the measuring rod: 12,000 stadia.[a] Its length, width, and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall by human measurement, which was what the angel used: 144 cubits.
18 The wall is made of jasper, and the city is pure gold, like pure glass. 19 The foundations of the city’s wall had been adorned with every kind of precious stone.
The first foundation is jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third agate,
the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth onyx,
the sixth ruby,[b]
the seventh diamond,[c]
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth turquoise,[d]
the eleventh jacinth,
the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates are twelve pearls. Each of the gates is made out of one pearl. And the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.