8 vHe will swallow up death forever;
and wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
yfor the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
The Compassion of the Lord
1 d“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
ecome, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 fWhy do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
24 bI will take you cfrom the nations and gather you from all the countries and dbring you into your own land. 25 eI will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from fall your uncleannesses, and gfrom all your idols hI will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you ia new heart, and ia new spirit I will put within you. iAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 jAnd I will put my Spirit within you, iand cause you to walk in my statutes and kbe careful to obey my rules.1 28 lYou shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and myou shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And nI will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And oI will summon the grain and make it abundant and play no famine upon you. 30 qI will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, othat you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
29 And wpeople will come from east and west, and from north and south, and xrecline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, ysome are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me kwhen you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in lparadise.”
2 In fmy Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that gI go to prepare a place for you?1 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you hto myself, that iwhere I am you may be also.
42 fSo is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; git is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Mystery and Victory
50 I tell you this, brothers: qflesh and blood rcannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. sWe shall not all sleep, tbut we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For uthe trumpet will sound, and vthe dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and wthis mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
x“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 y“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and zthe power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, awho gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 bTherefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in cthe work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord dyour labor is not in vain.
The Coming of the Lord
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, gthat you may not grieve as others do hwho have no hope. 14 For isince we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him jthose who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you kby a word from the Lord,1 that lwe who are alive, who are left until mthe coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For nthe Lord himself will descend ofrom heaven pwith a cry of command, with the voice of qan archangel, and rwith the sound of the trumpet of God. And sthe dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be tcaught up together with them uin the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so vwe will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, dclothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of jthe great tribulation. kThey have washed their robes and lmade them white min the blood of the Lamb.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and nserve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne owill shelter them with his presence.
16 pThey shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
qthe sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne rwill be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of sliving water,
and tGod will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
4 hHe will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and ideath shall be no more, jneither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And khe who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I lam making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for mthese words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, n“It is done! oI am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. pTo the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 qThe one who conquers will have this heritage, and rI will be his God and she will be my son.
3 dNo longer will there be anything accursed, but ethe throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and fhis servants will worship him. 4 gThey will see his face, and hhis name will be on their foreheads. 5 And inight will be no more. They will need no light of lamp jor sun, for kthe Lord God will be their light, and lthey will reign forever and ever.
