Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

This is a psalm to say ‘thank you’.

Thank you, God!^[a]

¹⁵ The Lord gave this message to me: ¹⁶ ‘Son of man, take a stick and write on it, “This stick belongs to Judah and the Israelite tribes that are with him.” Then take another stick and write on it, “This stick belongs to Joseph's son Ephraim and the Israelite tribes that are with him.”^{[a] 17} Make the two sticks join together to become one stick in your hand. ¹⁸ Your people will ask you, “Please tell us what this means.” ¹⁹ When they ask that, say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will take Joseph's stick that belongs to Ephraim and the Israelite tribes that are with him. I will cause it to join together with Judah's stick. I will make them become one stick in my hand.”

²⁰ Hold the two sticks that you have written words on. Hold them in your hand for the people to see. ²¹ Say to the people, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will take Israel's people out from among the nations where they have gone. I will bring them back together from all those foreign countries. I will bring them to their own land. ²² In that land, I will make them become one nation. They will live on Israel's mountains. They will have one king to rule over them all. They will never again become two nations or two separate kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer worship their disgusting idols and make themselves unclean. They will not refuse to obey me. They have turned away from me and done bad things. But I will save them from all their sins. I will make them clean. They will be my people and I will be their God.

²⁴ My servant David will be their king. There will be one shepherd who takes care of them all. They will carefully obey my rules and my laws. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. It is the land where your ancestors lived. My people, their children and their grandchildren will live there. They will live there for ever. My servant David will rule over them for ever.^[b]

²⁶ I will make a covenant with them to give them peace. It is a promise to my people that will continue for ever. I will cause them to live safely in their land. I will cause them to grow in number. I will put my temple among them, to be with them for ever. ²⁷ I will make my home with them. I will be their God and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, have chosen the Israelites as my own people. The nations will see that I have put my temple among my people for ever.” ’

The seven angels with the last troubles

15 Then I saw another very wonderful thing in the sky.^[a] I saw seven angels with seven terrible troubles to hurt people. They are the final troubles. When they have finished, God will stop being angry.

² Then I saw what seemed to be a glass sea. Fire was mixed in it. I also saw people who were standing at the edge of the glass sea. Those people had fought against the wild animal and they had won. They had won against its image and the number that means its name. They had fought and they had won. God had given them harps. They held the harps to make music. ³ Now they sang the song of God's servant, Moses, and the Lamb's song.^[b] They sang this: