Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Psalm of Praise

117 Praise the Lord, all nations! Praise Him, all people! ² For His loving-kindness toward us is great. And the truth of the Lord lasts forever. Praise the Lord!

¹⁸ “The Lord says, ‘I will bring the tents of Jacob back from Babylon, and will have pity on his houses. The city will be built up again on its broken walls. And the king’s house will stand where it used to be. ¹⁹ The people who live there will give much thanks and happy voices will be heard. And I will add to their numbers. They will not be made less. I will honor them, and they will be important. ²⁰ Their children will be as they were before. They will be a strong people before Me. And I will punish all those who make it hard for them. ²¹ Their leader will be one of them. Their ruler will come from among them. I will bring him near, and he will come close to Me. For who would have the strength of heart to come near Me on his own?’ says the Lord. ²² ‘And you will be My people, and I will be your God.’”

²³ See the storm of the Lord! Anger has gone out, a very bad storm. It will break upon the heads of the sinful. ²⁴ The burning anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has done what He has planned in His heart to do. In days to come you will understand this.

⁸ It was I, John, who heard and saw these things. Then I got down at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. I was going to worship him. ⁹ But he said to me, “No! You must not do that. I am a servant together with you and with your Christian brothers and the early preachers and with all those who obey the words in this Book. You must worship God!” ¹⁰ Then he said to me, “Do not lock up the words of this Book. These things will happen soon. ¹¹ And let the sinful people keep on being sinful. Let the dirty-minded people keep on being dirty-minded. And let those right with God keep on being right with God. Let the holy people keep on being holy.

¹² “See! I am coming soon. I am bringing with Me the reward I will give to everyone for what he has done. ¹³ I am the First and the Last. I am the beginning and the end. ¹⁴ Those who wash their clothes clean are happy (who are washed by the blood of the Lamb). They will have the right to go into the city through the gates. They will have the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life. ¹⁵ Outside the city are the dogs. They are people who follow witchcraft and those who do sex sins and those who kill other people and those who worship false gods and those who like lies and tell them.

¹⁶ “I am Jesus. I have sent My angel to you with these words to the churches. I am the beginning of David and of his family. I am the bright Morning Star.”

¹⁷ The Holy Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who wants to drink of the water of life, drink it. It is a free gift.

¹⁸ I am telling everyone who hears the words that are written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written in this book, God will add to him the kinds of trouble that this book tells about. ¹⁹ If anyone takes away any part of this book that tells what will happen in the future, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the Holy City, which are told about in this book.

²⁰ He Who tells these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Let it be so. Come, Lord Jesus. ²¹ May all of you have the loving-favor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let it be so.