Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 93[a]
God Is a Mighty King
1 The Lord is king,[b] robed with majesty;
the Lord is robed, girded with might.(A)
The world will surely stand in place,
never to be moved.(B)
2 Your throne stands firm from of old;
you are from everlasting.(C)
3 [c]The flood has raised up, Lord;
the flood has raised up its roar;
the flood has raised its pounding waves.
4 More powerful than the roar of many waters,
more powerful than the breakers of the sea,
powerful in the heavens is the Lord.
5 Your decrees are firmly established;
holiness befits your house, Lord,
for all the length of days.
Chapter 15
Further Reforms. 1 The spirit of God came upon Azariah, son of Oded. 2 He went forth to meet Asa and said to him: “Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him he will be found; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.(A) 3 For a long time Israel was without a true God, without a priest-teacher, without instruction, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.(B) 5 At that time there was no peace for anyone to go or come; rather, there were many terrors upon the inhabitants of the lands. 6 Nation crushed nation and city crushed city,(C) for God overwhelmed them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not slack off, for there shall be a reward for what you do.”(D)
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy (Oded the prophet), he was encouraged to remove the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the highlands of Ephraim, and to restore the altar of the Lord which was before the vestibule of the Lord. 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, together with those of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were resident with them; for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord, his God, was with him. 10 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month[a] of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign, 11 and sacrificed to the Lord on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought. 12 (E)They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul; 13 and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, from least to greatest, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire. The Lord was found by them,(F) and gave them rest on every side.
15 [a]The one who spoke to me held a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city was square, its length the same as [also] its width. He measured the city with the rod and found it fifteen hundred miles[b] in length and width and height. 17 He also measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits[c] according to the standard unit of measurement the angel used. 18 [d]The wall was constructed of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the city wall were decorated with every precious stone; the first course of stones was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,(A) 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made from a single pearl; and the street of the city was of pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 [e](B)I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.