Deuteronomy 24, Psalm 114, 115, Isaiah 51, Revelation 21

Deuteronomy 24,

1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
 
2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man,
 
3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,
 
4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
 
5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
 
6 Do not take a pair of millstones-not even the upper one-as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man's livelihood as security.
 
7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.
 
8 In cases of leprous diseases be very careful to do exactly as the priests, who are Levites, instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.
 
9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.
 
10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge.
 
11 Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you.
 
12 If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession.
 
13 Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.
 
14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.
 
15 Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
 
16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
 
17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
 
18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.
 
19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
 
20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.
 
21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.
 
22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

Psalm 114, 115,

1 When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
 
2 Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
 
3 The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back;
 
4 the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
 
5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,
 
6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs?
 
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
 
8 who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
 
2 Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?"
 
3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
 
4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
 
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
 
6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;
 
7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
 
8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
 
9 O house of Israel, trust in the LORD-he is their help and shield.
 
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD-he is their help and shield.
 
11 You who fear him, trust in the LORD-he is their help and shield.
 
12 The LORD remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron,
 
13 he will bless those who fear the LORD-small and great alike.
 
14 May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children.
 
15 May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
 
16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man.
 
17 It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence;
 
18 it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore. Praise the LORD.

Isaiah 51,

1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD : Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
 
2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.
 
3 The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
 
4 "Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
 
5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.
 
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
 
7 "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.
 
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations."
 
9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
 
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
 
11 The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
 
12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass,
 
13 that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
 
14 The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
 
15 For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar-the LORD Almighty is his name.
 
16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand-I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.' "
 
17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.
 
18 Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand.
 
19 These double calamities have come upon you-who can comfort you?-ruin and destruction, famine and sword-who can console you?
 
20 Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the LORD and the rebuke of your God.
 
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
 
22 This is what your Sovereign LORD says, your God, who defends his people: "See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
 
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, 'Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.' And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked over."

Revelation 21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
 
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
 
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
 
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
 
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
 
6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
 
7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
 
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
 
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
 
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
 
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
 
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
 
13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.
 
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
 
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
 
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
 
17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using.
 
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
 
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
 
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
 
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
 
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
 
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
 
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
 
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
 
26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
 
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.