Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Other Soldiers Join David

¹⁶ Other men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David at the fortress. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them and said, “If you have come in peace to help me, I welcome you. Join me. But if you have come to spy on me when I have done nothing wrong, may the God of our ancestors see what you did and punish you.”

¹⁸ Amasai was the leader of the Thirty Heroes.^[a] Then the Spirit came on Amasai, and he said,

So David welcomed these men into his group and put them in charge of the troops.

¹⁹ Some of the men from the tribe of Manasseh also joined David. They joined him when he went with the Philistines to fight Saul. But David and his men did not really help the Philistines. The Philistine leaders talked about David helping them, but then they decided to send him away. They said, “If David goes back to his master Saul, our heads will be cut off!” ²⁰ These were the men from Manasseh who joined David when he went to the town of Ziklag: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. All of them were generals^[b] from the tribe of Manasseh. ²¹ They helped David fight against bad men who were going around the country and stealing things from people. All these men of Manasseh were brave soldiers. They became leaders in David’s army.

²² More and more men came every day to help David. So he had a large and powerful army.

⁵ The one who was sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.”

⁶ The one on the throne said to me, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega,^[a] the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. ⁷ All those who win the victory will receive all this. And I will be their God, and they will be my children. ⁸ But those who are cowards, those who refuse to believe, those who do terrible things, those who kill, those who sin sexually, those who do evil magic, those who worship idols, and those who tell lies—they will all have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁹ One of the seven angels came to me. This was one of the angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues. The angel said, “Come with me. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ The angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. The angel showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. The city was coming down out of heaven from God.

¹¹ The city was shining with the glory of God. It was shining bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper. It was clear as crystal. ¹² The city had a large, high wall with twelve gates. There were twelve angels at the gates. On each gate was written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. ¹⁴ The walls of the city were built on twelve foundation stones. On the stones were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.