Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The lamb’s elite warriors

14 As I watched, there was the lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name, and the name of his father, written on their foreheads. ² I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunder, and the voice I heard was like harpists playing on their harps. ³ And they are singing a new song before the throne, and before the four creatures and the elders. Nobody can learn that song except for the hundred and forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who have never polluted themselves with women; they are celibate. They follow the lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from the human race as first fruits for God and the lamb, ⁵ and no lie has been found in their mouths. They are without blemish.

A call for endurance

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, carrying an eternal gospel to announce to those who live on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. ⁷ He spoke with a loud voice, and this is what he said: “Fear God! Give him glory! The time has come for his judgment! Worship the one who made heaven and earth and the sea and the springs of water!”

⁸ He was followed by another angel, and this is what he said: “Babylon the great has fallen! She has fallen! She is the one who made all the nations drink the wine of the anger that comes upon her fornication.”

⁹ They were followed by a third angel, who also spoke in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the monster and its image, or receives its mark on their forehead or their hand, ¹⁰ that person will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured neat into the cup of his anger, and they will be tortured in fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the lamb. ¹¹ The smoke of their torture goes up forever and ever. Those who worship the monster and its image, and those who receive the mark of its name, will have no respite, day or night.”