Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord, the Fair and Holy King
99 The Lord is king.
Let the peoples shake with fear.
He sits between the gold creatures with wings.
Let the earth shake.
2 The Lord in Jerusalem is great;
he is supreme over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your name;
it is great, holy and to be feared.
4 The King is powerful and loves justice.
Lord, you made things fair;
you have done what is fair and right
for the people of Jacob.
5 Praise the Lord our God,
and worship at the Temple, his footstool.
He is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel was among his worshipers.
They called to the Lord,
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud.
They kept the rules and laws he gave them.
8 Lord our God, you answered them.
You showed them that you are a forgiving God,
but you punished them for their wrongs.
9 Praise the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain,
because the Lord our God is holy.
The Meeting Tent
7 Moses used to take a tent and set it up a long way outside the camp; he called it the “Meeting Tent.” Anyone who wanted to ask the Lord about something would go to the Meeting Tent outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances of their tents, watching him until he entered the Meeting Tent. 9 When Moses went into the Tent, the pillar of cloud would always come down and stay at the entrance of the Tent while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance of the Tent, they stood and worshiped, each person at the entrance of his own tent.
11 The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but Moses’ young helper, Joshua son of Nun, did not leave the Tent.
9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be their leader, will not listen to us. 10 So if I come, I will talk about what Diotrephes is doing, about how he lies and says evil things about us. But more than that, he refuses to accept the other brothers and sisters; he even stops those who do want to accept them and puts them out of the church.
11 My dear friend, do not follow what is bad; follow what is good. The one who does good belongs to God. But the one who does evil has never known God.
12 Everyone says good things about Demetrius, and the truth agrees with what they say. We also speak well of him, and you know what we say is true.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.