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Psalm 99

1  The Lord is king: let the peoples tremble; ♦︎
   he is enthroned above the cherubim: let the earth shake.
2  The Lord is great in Zion ♦︎
   and high above all peoples.
3  Let them praise your name, which is great and awesome; ♦︎
   the Lord our God is holy.
4  Mighty king, who loves justice,
      you have established equity; ♦︎
   you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5  Exalt the Lord our God; ♦︎
   bow down before his footstool, for he is holy.
6  Moses and Aaron among his priests
      and Samuel among those who call upon his name; ♦︎
   they called upon the Lord and he answered them.
7  He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; ♦︎
   they kept his testimonies and the law that he gave them.
8  You answered them, O Lord our God; ♦︎
   you were a God who forgave them
      and pardoned them for their offences.

Judgement in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare war,^*
   stir up the warriors.
Let all the soldiers draw near,
   let them come up.
¹⁰ Beat your ploughshares into swords,
   and your pruning-hooks into spears;
   let the weakling say, ‘I am a warrior.’

¹¹ Come quickly,^*
   all you nations all around,
   gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
¹² Let the nations rouse themselves,
   and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
   all the neighbouring nations.

¹³ Put in the sickle,
   for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
   for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
   for their wickedness is great.

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes,
   in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
   in the valley of decision.
¹⁵ The sun and the moon are darkened,
   and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹⁶ The Lord roars from Zion,
   and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
   and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people,
   a stronghold for the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

¹⁷ So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,
   dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
   and strangers shall never again pass through it.

¹⁸ On that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
   the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
   shall flow with water;
a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
   and water the Wadi Shittim.

¹⁹ Egypt shall become a desolation
   and Edom a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
   in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
²⁰ But Judah shall be inhabited for ever,
   and Jerusalem to all generations.
²¹ I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,^*
   for the Lord dwells in Zion.

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them.’

Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! ¹⁵Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, ‘Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.’ ¹⁶So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.’ ¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. ²⁰And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for a distance of about two hundred miles.^*

The Angels with the Seven Last Plagues

15Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.

2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. ³And they sing the song of Moses, the servant^* of God, and the song of the Lamb:
‘Great and amazing are your deeds,
   Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
   King of the nations!^*
4 Lord, who will not fear
   and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
   All nations will come
   and worship before you,
for your judgements have been revealed.’

Nicodemus Visits Jesus

3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He came to Jesus^* by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ ³Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’^{* 4}Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ ⁵Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.^{* 7}Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You^* must be born from above.”^{* 8}The wind^* blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ ⁹Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ ¹⁰Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you^* do not receive our testimony. ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^{* 14}And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.^*

16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.