Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 130
A song for going up to worship.
1 O Yahweh, out of the depths I call to you.
2 O Adonay, hear my voice.
Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
3 O Yahweh, who would be able to stand
if you kept a record of sins?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you can be feared.
5 I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,
and with hope I wait for his word.
6 My soul waits for Adonay
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in Yahweh,
because with Yahweh there is mercy
and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
8 He will rescue Israel from all its sins.
Ezekiel Sees the Lord’s Throne
1 On the fifth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year, while I was living among the exiles by the Chebar River, the sky opened, and I saw visions from Elohim. 2 On the fifth day of the month, during the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiakin, 3 Yahweh spoke his word to the priest Ezekiel, son of Buzi, in Babylon by the Chebar River. The power of Yahweh came over Ezekiel.
8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say. Don’t be rebellious like those rebellious people. Open your mouth, and eat what I am giving to you.”
9 As I looked, I saw a hand stretched out toward me. In it was a scroll. 10 He spread the scroll in front of me. There was writing on the front and back. There were funeral songs, songs of mourning, and horrible things written on it.
3 Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll. Then speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3 He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I’m giving you, and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
John Eats a Small Scroll
10 I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet were like columns of fire. 2 He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. 3 Then he shouted in a loud voice as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke with voices of their own. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was going to write it down. I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.”
5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, “There will be no more delay. 7 In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed, as he had made this Good News known to his servants, the prophets.” 8 The voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again. It said, “Take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it was bitter in my stomach. 11 The seven thunders told me, “Again you must speak what God has revealed in front of many people, nations, languages, and kings.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.