Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁶ Some of the men of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the fortified camp. ¹⁷ David went to meet them. He told them, “If you’ve come to help me as friends would, then you may join me. But if you’ve come to betray me to my enemies, even though I haven’t committed a crime, may the God of our ancestors see this and judge you.”

¹⁸ Then the Spirit gave Amasai, the leader of the thirty, the strength ⌞to say⌟,

So David welcomed them and made them officers over his troops.

¹⁹ Some men from Manasseh had deserted ⌞Saul’s army⌟ to join David when he went with the Philistines to attack Saul. (However, David didn’t help the Philistines because their rulers sent him away after considering the matter. They said, “It will cost us our heads when he deserts and joins his master Saul.”) ²⁰ When David went to Ziklag, these men from Manasseh deserted to join him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. Each one was an officer over 1,000 men in Manasseh. ²¹ They helped David fight raiding parties because they were all warriors, commanders in the army. ²² From day to day, men came to help David until he had an army as large as God’s army.

⁵ The one sitting on the throne said, “I am making everything new.” He said, “Write this: ‘These words are faithful and true.’ ” ⁶ He said to me, “It has happened! I am the A and the Z,^[a] the beginning and the end. I will give a drink from the fountain filled with the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. It won’t cost anything. ⁷ Everyone who wins the victory will inherit these things. I will be their God, and they will be my children. ⁸ But cowardly, unfaithful, and detestable people, murderers, sexual sinners, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

A New Jerusalem

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the last seven plagues came to me and said, “Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.” ¹⁰ He carried me by his power away to a large, high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. ¹¹ It had the glory of God. Its light was like a valuable gem, like gray quartz, as clear as crystal. ¹² It had a large, high wall with 12 gates. Twelve angels were at the gates. The names of the 12 tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 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 wall of the city had 12 foundations. The 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb were written on them.