Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God the King of the Earth.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
47 O clap your hands, all you people;
Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy.
2
For the Lord Most High is to be feared [and worshiped with awe-inspired reverence and obedience];
He is a great King over all the earth.
3
He subdues peoples under us
And nations under our feet.
4
He chooses our inheritance for us,
The glory and excellence of Jacob whom He loves.(A) Selah.
5
God has ascended amid shouting,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7
For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding.
8
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.
9
The princes of the people have gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham,
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is highly exalted.
15 Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory and brilliance of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day God called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. 17 In the sight of the Israelites the appearance of the glory and brilliance of the Lord was like consuming fire on the top of the mountain. 18 Moses entered the midst of the cloud and went up the mountain; and he was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
The Patmos Vision
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the [a]tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, [exiled there] because of [my preaching of] the word of God [regarding eternal salvation] and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the [b]Spirit [in special communication with the Holy Spirit and empowered to receive and record the revelation from Jesus Christ] on the [c]Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write on a scroll what you see [in this revelation], and send it to the [d]seven churches—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the midst of the lampstands I saw someone [e]like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe reaching to His feet, and with a golden sash wrapped around His chest.(A) 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, [glistening white] like snow; and His [all-seeing] eyes were [flashing] like a flame of fire [piercing into my being].(B) 15 His feet were like burnished [white-hot] bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was [powerful] like the sound of many waters.(C) 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword [of judgment]; and His face [reflecting His majesty and the [f]Shekinah glory] was like the sun shining in [all] its power [at midday].(D)
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. And He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last [absolute Deity, the Son of God],(E) 18 and the Ever-living One [living in and beyond all time and space]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of [absolute control and victory over] death and of Hades (the realm of the dead).
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