Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Adonai-Nissi

Psalm 20

The Cloud as the Guide

¹⁵ On the day the Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the Tabernacle. By evening until morning, the cloud above the Tent of Testimony had an appearance like fire. ¹⁶ It was that way continually. The cloud covered it, and by night it appeared like fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted up from above the Tent, then Bnei-Yisrael would set out, and at the place where the cloud settled, there Bnei-Yisrael would encamp. ¹⁸ At the mouth of Adonai, Bnei-Yisrael would set out, and at the mouth of Adonai they would encamp. All the days that the cloud remained over the Tabernacle, they would remain in camp.

¹⁹ When the cloud would remain over the Tabernacle many days, Bnei-Yisrael would obey the command of Adonai and not set out. ²⁰ At times the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle only a few days. At Adonai’s word they would encamp, and at Adonai’s word they would set out.

²¹ At times the cloud remained only from evening until morning. When the cloud would lift, they would set out. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted, they would set out. ²² Whether for two days or a month or a year, while the cloud remained over the Tabernacle, Bnei-Yisrael remained camped and would not set out. But when it would lift, they would set out. ²³ At Adonai’s word they would encamp, and at the mouth of Adonai they set out. They obeyed Adonai’s order by Moses’s hand.

The Heavenly Throne of Adonai

4 After these things I looked, and behold, a door was standing open in heaven.^[a] And the first voice, which I had heard speaking with me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

² Immediately I was in the Ruach;^[b] and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One seated on the throne. ^{[c] 3} And the One who was seated was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. ^{[d] 4} Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵ And out from the throne come flashes of lightning and rumblings and clashes of thunder^[e]—and seven torches of fire burning before the throne,^[f] which are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

In the middle of the throne and around it were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.^[g]

⁷ The first living creature was like a lion,

the second living creature was like an ox,

the third living creature had a face

like a man,

and the fourth living creature was

like a flying eagle.^[h]

⁸ The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes all around and within.^[i] They do not rest day or night, chanting,