Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Asaph wrote this psalm for the music leader. He should use special music.

God, help our nation^[a]

The Lord takes away the sin of the people

13 ‘On that day, water will start to pour from a fountain for King David's descendants and Jerusalem's people. It will make them clean from their sins and the dirty things that they have done.’

² The Lord Almighty says, ‘On that day, I will remove the names of false gods from the country. Everyone will forget them. I will remove all the false prophets. And I will remove the bad spirit that is not holy.

³ And if anyone appears as a prophet again, his father and his mother will say to him, “You must die. You do not speak true words. The Lord has not spoken to you.” Then they will kill him.

⁴ On that day, every prophet will be ashamed that he was ever a prophet. He will not put on the clothes of a prophet that they make from hair. Then people will not know that he is a prophet.

⁵ He will say, “I am not a prophet. I am a farmer. From the time that I was a boy, I have worked on the land.”

⁶ If someone asks him, “Who cut your body?” he will answer, “My friends cut me when I was at their house.” ’

Kill the shepherd and the sheep will run away

⁷ ‘Attack my shepherd with a sharp knife.

Attack the man that is next to me,’

says the Lord Almighty.

⁸ In the whole country,’ says the Lord,

⁹ I will bring these people through fire.

As men clean silver in the fire, so I will clean them.

As men test gold in the fire, so I will test them.

The three angels with messages

⁶ Then I saw another angel who was flying high in the sky above me. He brought God's message of good news that is always true. He came to tell this news to everyone who lives on the earth. He would tell it to people from every nation, from every tribe and from every language. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, ‘Respect God and give him honour! Now it is time for him to judge people. He made the sky and the earth and the sea. He also made the springs of water. So worship him!’

⁸ A second angel followed the first one. He said, ‘God has destroyed Babylon! It is no longer a great city! It has caused people everywhere to do the same bad things as it enjoys. She is like a prostitute who makes men become drunk and have sex in a wrong way. She has caused them to turn away from God.’^[a]

⁹ A third angel followed the other two angels. He said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the wild animal and its idol, God will punish them. If anyone receives that animal's mark on their head or on their hand, God will punish them. ¹⁰ God will be very angry with all those people. They will be like people who must drink God's strong wine. When they drink wine from the cup of God's anger, they will have terrible pain. Fire and sulphur will burn them. God's angels and the Lamb will watch while God punishes them. ¹¹ The smoke will rise for ever while they burn. They will have no rest during the day or during the night. This will happen to everyone who worships the wild animal and its image. It will happen to everyone who receives the mark which shows its name.’

¹² This means that God's people must go on being patient and strong. They must continue to obey God's rules. They must continue to trust Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice that spoke from heaven. It said, ‘Write this: From this time, people who continue to believe in the Lord and then they die will be very happy.’ God's Spirit says, ‘Yes, they will rest from their work. God will not forget the good things that they have done.’