Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People

^(A)A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

One Kingdom, One King

¹⁵ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁶ “As for you, son of man, ^(A)take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for ^(B)the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then ^(C)join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

¹⁸ “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ^(D)‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— ^19 (E)say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take ^(F)the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ ²⁰ And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand ^(G)before their eyes.

²¹ “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely ^(H)I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and ^(I)I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^(J)one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. ^23 (K)They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but ^(L)I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

^24 (M)“David My servant shall be king over them, and ^(N)they shall all have one shepherd; ^(O)they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. ^25 (P)Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, ^(Q)forever; and ^(R)My servant David shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ Moreover I will ^[a]make ^(S)a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and ^(T)multiply them, and I will set My ^(U)sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ^27 (V)My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be ^(W)their God, and they shall be My people. ^28 (X)The nations also will know that I, the Lord, ^(Y)sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”

Prelude to the Bowl Judgments

15 Then ^(A)I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: ^(B)seven angels having the seven last plagues, ^(C)for in them the wrath of God is complete.

² And I saw something like ^(D)a sea of glass ^(E)mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, ^(F)over his image and ^[a]over his mark and over the ^(G)number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, ^(H)having harps of God. ³ They sing ^(I)the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the ^(J)Lamb, saying: