Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for the King

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

The Cloud Above the Tent

¹⁵ On the day the Holy Tent, the Tent of the Agreement, was set up, a cloud covered it. From dusk until dawn the cloud above the Tent looked like fire. ¹⁶ The cloud stayed above the Tent, and at night it looked like fire. ¹⁷ When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped. ¹⁸ So the Israelites moved at the Lord’s command, and they camped at his command. While the cloud stayed over the Tent, they remained camped. ¹⁹ Sometimes the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, but the Israelites obeyed the Lord and did not move. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud was over it only a few days. At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at his command they moved. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed only from dusk until dawn; when the cloud lifted the next morning, the people moved. When the cloud lifted, day or night, the people moved. ²² The cloud might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved. ²³ At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at his command they moved. They obeyed the Lord’s order that he commanded through Moses.

John Sees Heaven

4 After the vision of these things I looked, and there before me was an open door in heaven. And the same voice that spoke to me before, that sounded like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” ² Immediately I was in the Spirit, and before me was a throne in heaven, and someone was sitting on it. ³ The One who sat on the throne looked like precious stones, like jasper and carnelian. All around the throne was a rainbow the color of an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne there were twenty-four other thrones with twenty-four elders sitting on them. They were dressed in white and had golden crowns on their heads. ⁵ Lightning flashes and noises and thunder came from the throne. Before the throne seven lamps were burning, which are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also before the throne there was something that looked like a sea of glass, clear like crystal.

In the center and around the throne were four living creatures with eyes all over them, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion. The second was like a calf. The third had a face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of these four living creatures had six wings and was covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day and night they never stop saying: