Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Hymn of Thanksgiving
12 A day is coming when people will sing,
“I praise you, Lord! You were angry with me,
but now you comfort me and are angry no longer.
2 (A)God is my savior;
I will trust him and not be afraid.
The Lord gives me power and strength;
he is my savior.
3 As fresh water brings joy to the thirsty,
so God's people rejoice when he saves them.”
4 A day is coming when people will sing,
“Give thanks to the Lord! Call for him to help you!
Tell all the nations what he has done!
Tell them how great he is!
5 Sing to the Lord because of the great things he has done.
Let the whole world hear the news.
6 Let everyone who lives in Zion shout and sing!
Israel's holy God is great,
and he lives among his people.”
15 There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime.”
The Lord Prepares to Rescue His People
The Lord has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice. 16 (A)He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So he will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory. 17 (B)He will wear justice like a coat of armor and saving power like a helmet. He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer. 18 He will punish his enemies according to what they have done, even those who live in distant lands. 19 From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind.
20 (C)The Lord says to his people, “I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins. 21 And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come.”
The Coming of the Kingdom(A)
20 Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, “The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. 21 No one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’; because the Kingdom of God is within you.”[a]
22 Then he said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will wish you could see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, over there!’ or, ‘Look, over here!’ But don't go out looking for it. 24 As the lightning flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer much and be rejected by the people of this day. 26 (B)As it was in the time of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 (C)Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all. 28 (D)It will be as it was in the time of Lot. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 On the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and killed them all. 30 That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
31 (E)“On that day someone who is on the roof of a house must not go down into the house to get any belongings; in the same way anyone who is out in the field must not go back to the house. 32 (F)Remember Lot's wife! 33 (G)Those who try to save their own life will lose it; those who lose their life will save it. 34 On that night, I tell you, there will be two people sleeping in the same bed: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind. 35 Two women will be grinding meal together: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind.” 36 [b]
37 The disciples asked him, “Where, Lord?”
Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.