Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Majesty of the Lord
93 The Lord is king. He is clothed in majesty.
The Lord is clothed in majesty
and armed with strength.
The world is set,
and it cannot be moved.
2 Lord, your kingdom was set up long ago;
you are everlasting.
3 Lord, the seas raise,
the seas raise their voice.
The seas raise up their pounding waves.
4 The sound of the water is loud;
the ocean waves are powerful,
but the Lord above is much greater.
5 Lord, your laws will stand forever.
Your Temple will be holy forevermore.
Asa’s Changes
15 The Spirit of God entered Azariah son of Oded. 2 Azariah went to meet Asa and said, “Listen to me, Asa and all you people of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you obey him, you will find him, but if you leave him, he will leave you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God and without a priest to teach them and without the teachings. 4 But when they were in trouble, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel. They looked for him and found him. 5 In those days no one could travel safely. There was much trouble in all the nations. 6 One nation would destroy another nation, and one city would destroy another city, because God troubled them with all kinds of distress. 7 But you should be strong. Don’t give up, because you will get a reward for your good work.”
8 Asa felt brave when he heard these words and the message from Azariah son of Oded the prophet. So he removed the hateful idols from all of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the Lord’s altar that was in front of the porch of the Temple of the Lord.
9 Then Asa gathered all the people from Judah and Benjamin and from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living in Judah. Many people came to Asa even from Israel, because they saw that the Lord, Asa’s God, was with him.
10 Asa and these people gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule. 11 At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats from the valuable things Asa’s army had taken from their enemies. 12 Then they made an agreement to obey the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with their whole being. 13 Anyone who refused to obey the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be killed. It did not matter if that person was important or unimportant, a man or woman. 14 Then Asa and the people made a promise before the Lord, shouting with a loud voice and blowing trumpets and sheep’s horns. 15 All the people of Judah were happy about the promise, because they had promised with all their heart. They looked for God and found him. So the Lord gave them peace in all the country.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod made of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city was built in a square, and its length was equal to its width. The angel measured the city with the rod. The city was 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high. 17 The angel also measured the wall. It was 216 feet high, by human measurements, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city walls were decorated with every kind of jewel. The first foundation was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was chalcedony, the fourth was emerald, 20 the fifth was onyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate having been made from a single pearl. And the street of the city was made of pure gold as clear as glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city’s temple.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.