Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

47 Come, everyone, and clap for joy! Shout triumphant praises to the Lord! ² For the Lord, the God above all gods, is awesome beyond words; he is the great King of all the earth. ³ He subdues the nations before us ⁴ and will personally select his choicest blessings for his Jewish people^[a]—the very best for those he loves.

⁵ God has ascended with a mighty shout, with trumpets blaring. ^6-7 Sing out your praises to our God, our King. Yes, sing your highest praises to our King, the King of all the earth. Sing thoughtful praises! ⁸ He reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne. ⁹ The Gentile rulers of the world have joined with us in praising him—praising^[b] the God of Abraham—for the battle shields of all the armies of the world are his trophies. He is highly honored everywhere.

¹⁵ Then Moses went up the mountain and disappeared into the cloud at the top. ¹⁶ And the glory of the Lord rested upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud. ¹⁷ Those at the bottom of the mountain saw the awesome sight: the glory of the Lord on the mountaintop looked like a raging fire. ¹⁸ And Moses disappeared into the cloud-covered mountaintop, and was there for forty days and forty nights.

⁹ It is I, your brother John, a fellow sufferer for the Lord’s sake, who am writing this letter to you. I, too, have shared the patience Jesus gives, and we shall share his Kingdom!

I was on the island of Patmos, exiled there for preaching the Word of God and for telling what I knew about Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ It was the Lord’s Day and I was worshiping, when suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me, a voice that sounded like a trumpet blast, ¹¹ saying, “I am A and Z, the First and Last!” And then I heard him say, “Write down everything you see, and send your letter to the seven churches in Turkey:^[a] to the church in Ephesus, the one in Smyrna, and those in Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² When I turned to see who was speaking, there behind me were seven candlesticks of gold. ¹³ And standing among them was one who looked like Jesus, who called himself the Son of Man,^[b] wearing a long robe circled with a golden band across his chest. ¹⁴ His hair was white as wool or snow,^[c] and his eyes penetrated like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet gleamed like burnished bronze, and his voice thundered like the waves against the shore. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand and a sharp, double-bladed sword in his mouth,^[d] and his face shone like the power of the sun in unclouded brilliance.

^17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; but he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! Though I am the First and Last, the Living One who died, who is now alive forevermore, who has the keys of hell and death—don’t be afraid!