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Psalm 18

Royal Thanksgiving for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
¹ I love you, O Lord, my strength.
² The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
   my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
   my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
   so I shall be saved from my enemies.

⁴ The cords of death encompassed me;
   the torrents of perdition assailed me;
⁵ the cords of Sheol entangled me;
   the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷ Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹ He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
¹² Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire.
¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.^*
14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters.
¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.

Thanksgiving and Praise

12You will say on that day:
I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
   for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
   and you comforted me.

² Surely God is my salvation;
   I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God ^* is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵ Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
   let this be known^* in all the earth.
⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal^* Zion,
   for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

THE

Revelation

TO JOHN

Introduction and Salutation

1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants^* what must soon take place; he made^* it known by sending his angel to his servant^* John, ²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed^* us from our sins by his blood, ⁶and made^* us to be a kingdom, priests serving^* his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
⁷ Look! He is coming with the clouds;
   every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
   and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.

8 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. As^* the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart^* shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ ³⁹Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,^* because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division among the People

40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ ⁴¹Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’^* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah^* does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Messiah^* is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ ⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority

45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ ⁴⁶The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ ⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ ⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus^* before, and who was one of them, asked, ⁵¹‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ ⁵²They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’