Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ During that night, Paul had a vision. In the vision, he saw a man from the region called Macedonia. The man stood there and he said to Paul, ‘Please, please come across the sea to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰ After Paul's vision, we immediately prepared ourselves for the journey to Macedonia.^[a] We decided that God was telling us to go there. He wanted us to tell the people there the good news about Jesus.

Lydia becomes a believer

¹¹ We got in a ship at Troas and we sailed across the sea. We went across to an island called Samothrace. The next day, we continued our journey to a port called Neapolis. ¹² We then travelled across the land to Philippi, the most important city in the region of Macedonia. The Romans ruled Philippi and many Roman people lived there. We stayed there for a few days.

¹³ On the Jewish day of rest, we went out of the city gate. We went down to the edge of the river. We thought that the Jews might have a special meeting place there. We thought that they would meet there to pray. We found a group of women who were meeting there. So we sat down and we talked to them.^[b]

¹⁴ One of the women who listened to us was called Lydia. She was from the city of Thyatira. She bought and sold expensive dark red cloth. She was a Gentile woman who now worshipped God. The Lord helped her to understand Paul's message. So she believed the things that he said.

¹⁵ Then Paul and Silas baptized Lydia and the other people who lived in her house. After this, Lydia asked us to go to her house. She said to us, ‘If you think that I really believe in the Lord Jesus, then please stay in my house.’ We agreed to go and to stay there.

This psalm is a song for the music leader. He is to use stringed instruments.

All the nations should praise God^[a]

¹⁰ Then God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a great mountain that was very high. He showed me God's own holy city, Jerusalem. The city was coming down out of heaven from God.

²² When I looked, I saw that there was no temple in the city. The Lord God, who has all power and authority, is there himself. The Lamb is also there. So people do not need a special place to worship him there. ²³ Also, the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it. God's bright glory gives light to the city. The Lamb is the lamp that gives it light.

²⁴ People from all the world's nations will live in the city's light. The earth's rulers will bring all their valuable things into it. ²⁵ Nobody will ever shut the city's gates at the end of the day. It will always be day and there will be no night there. ²⁶ People from all the world's nations will bring their beautiful and valuable things into the city. ²⁷ But nothing that is bad or unclean will ever go in there. Nobody who does anything that God hates will go into the city. Nobody who tells lies will go in. Only those people with their names written in the Lamb's book of life can go in there.^[a]

The river and the tree that give life

22 Then the angel showed me a river. It had water that gives true life to people. The water shone like clean glass. The river of water started from the throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule. It ran from the throne ² along the middle of the city's biggest street. I saw a tree that was growing on each side of the river. It is the tree that gives people true life. It has 12 different kinds of fruit, a new fruit every month. The tree's leaves are like medicine. They make people of every nation well again.

³ Nothing that is in the city will be under a curse. The throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule will be in the city. God's servants will worship him there. ⁴ They will see his face. His name will be on the front of their heads. ⁵ There will be no more night, so nobody will need a lamp to make light. They will not need light from the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings for ever.

²³ Jesus replied, ‘Everyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. And my Father and I will come to them and we will make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my message. These words that you hear are not my own. No, they come from the Father, who sent me. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with you. He will be your Helper. He will come in my name, and he will teach you all things.^[a] He will help you to remember everything that I have told you.

²⁷ I will go away but I will give you a gift of peace. It is mine to give and yours to keep. It is not like a gift that this world gives. Do not let yourselves be sad. Do not be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, “I will go away, but I will return to you.” If you loved me, you would be happy because of that. You would be happy because I will go to the Father. And he is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens. So then, when it does happen, you will believe.

Jesus makes a man able to walk

5 Some time after that, Jesus went to Jerusalem, because it was time for one of the Jewish festivals.

² There is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. Its name in the Jewish language is Bethesda. Round the pool, there is a building with five places that have a roof over them. ³ A large number of sick people were lying in these places. Some of them were blind. Some of them could not walk properly. Some of them could not move their legs or their arms. [^[a] They were waiting for when the water started to move. ⁴ An angel would go down into the pool at certain times and move the water about. When that happened, all the sick people tried to get into the pool. The first person who got into the water became well, whatever his illness was.]

⁵ One man who was lying there had been ill for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw this man. He knew that the man had been ill like this for a very long time. So he asked the man, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ⁷ The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’ ⁸ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ ⁹ The man became well immediately. He picked up his mat and he walked.

The day when this happened was a Jewish day of rest.^[b]