Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹² This is why God's people must be patient. They are the ones who keep the laws of God and believe in Jesus.

¹³ I heard a voice from the sky. It said, `Write this: From now on, happy are those who die believing in the Lord.' `Yes,' says the Spirit. `They will have rest from their troubles. The good things they have done will go with them.'

¹⁴ I looked and saw a white cloud. I saw someone like the Son of Man sitting on the cloud. He had a big gold crown on his head and a sharp harvest knife in his hand.

¹⁵ Another angel came out of God's temple. He called in a loud voice to the one who was sitting on the cloud. He said, `Take your knife and cut the harvest. The time has come to take in the harvest because the earth is ready.'

¹⁶ So the one who sat on the cloud used his knife on earth. And the harvest on earth was cut.

¹⁷ Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He also had a sharp knife.

¹⁸ And another angel came from the altar. He had power over fire. He called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp knife. He said, `Take your sharp knife and gather the fruit that grows on the vine on the earth. Its fruit is ripe.'

¹⁹ So the angel used his knife on earth. He gathered the fruit of the vine on the earth. He put it in the big place where the water of the fruit is pressed out. This place is God's anger.

²⁰ It was outside the city that they pressed the fruit. Blood ran out of the place. It came up as high as the horses' heads for about two hundred miles.