Bible in 90 Days

Contend for the faith

¹ Judah, slave of Jesus the Messiah, brother of James, to those who are called, the people whom God loves and whom Jesus the Messiah keeps safe! ² May mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.

³ Beloved, I was doing my best to write to you about the rescue in which we share, but I found it necessary to write to you to urge you to struggle hard for the faith which was given once and for all to God’s people. ⁴ Some people have sneaked in among you, it seems, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation—ungodly people, who are transforming God’s grace into licentiousness, and denying the one and only master, our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

False teachers

⁵ I do want to remind you, even though you know it all well, that when the Lord once and for all delivered his people out of the land of Egypt, he subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ In the same way, when some of the angels did not keep to their rightful place of authority, but abandoned their own home, he kept them under conditions of darkness and in eternal chains to await the judgment of the great day. ⁷ In similar fashion, Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities round about, which had lived in gross immorality and lusted after unnatural flesh, are set before us as a pattern, undergoing the punishment of endless fire.

⁸ However, these people are behaving in the same way! They are dreaming their way into defiling the flesh, rejecting authority and cursing the Glorious Ones. ⁹ Even Michael the archangel, when disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not presume to lay against him a charge of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you.” ¹⁰ These people, however, curse anything they don’t know. They are like dumb animals; there are some things they understand instinctively—but it is these very things that destroy them. ¹¹ A curse on them! They go off in the way of Cain; they give themselves over for money into Balaam’s deceitful ways; they are destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. ¹² These are the ones who pollute your love-feasts; they share your table without fear while simply looking after their own needs. They are waterless clouds blown along by the winds. They are fruitless autumn trees, doubly dead and uprooted. ¹³ They are stormy waves out at sea, splashing up their own shameful ways. They are wandering stars, and the deepest everlasting darkness has been kept for them in particular.

¹⁴ Enoch, the seventh in line from Adam, prophesied about these people. “Look!” he said. “The Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones, ¹⁵ to perform judgment against all, and to charge every human being with all the ungodly ways in which they have done ungodly things, and with every harsh word which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶ These people are always grumbling and complaining, chasing off after their own desires. From their mouths come arrogant words, buttering people up for the sake of gain.

Rescued by God’s power

¹⁷ But you, my beloved ones, remember the words that were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. ¹⁸ “In the last time,” they said to you, “there will be scornful people who follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who cause divisions. They are living on the merely human level; they do not have the spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved ones, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Pray in the holy spirit. ²¹ Keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus the Messiah to show you the mercy which leads to the life of the age to come.

²² With some people who are wavering, you must show mercy. ²³ Some you must rescue, snatching them from the fire. To others you must show mercy, but with fear, hating even the clothes that have been defiled by the flesh.

²⁴ Now to the one who is able to keep you standing upright, and to present you before his glory, undefiled and joyful— ²⁵ to the one and only God, our savior through Jesus the Messiah our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority before all the ages, and now, and to all the ages to come. Amen.

Look! He is coming!

1 Revelation of Jesus the Messiah! God gave it to him to show his servants what must soon take place. He signified it by sending a message through his angel to his servant John, ² who, by reporting all he saw, bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus the Messiah. ³ God’s blessing on the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and on those who hear them and keep what is written in it—for the time is near!

⁴ John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is To Come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Glory to the one who loved us, and freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and father—glory and power be to him forever and ever. Amen.

⁷ Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him; yes, even those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of him. Yes! 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.

Jesus revealed

⁹ I, John, your brother and your partner in the suffering, the kingdom, and the patient endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. ¹¹ “Write down what you see in a book,” it said, “and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

¹² So I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. As I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the middle of the lampstands “one like a son of man,” wearing a full-length robe and with a golden belt across his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white, white like wool, white like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵ his feet were like exquisite brass, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ He was holding seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. The sight of him was like the sun when it shines with full power. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though I was dead.

He touched me with his right hand. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I am the first and the last ¹⁸ and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am alive forever and ever. I have the keys of death and Hades. ¹⁹ Now write what you see, both the things that already are, and also the things that are going to happen subsequently. ²⁰ The secret meaning of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, by the way, and the seven golden lampstands, is this. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches themselves.

The letter to Ephesus

2 “Write this to the angel of the church in Ephesus. ‘These are the words of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and who walks in among the seven golden lampstands. ² I know what you have done, your hard labor and patience. I know that you cannot tolerate evil people, and that you have tested those who pass themselves off as apostles, but are not, and you have demonstrated them to be frauds. ³ You have patience, and you have put up with a great deal because of my name, and you haven’t grown weary. ⁴ I do, however, have one thing against you: you have abandoned the love you showed at the beginning. ⁵ So remember the place from which you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at the beginning. If not—if you don’t repent—I will come and remove your lampstand out of its place. ⁶ You do, though, have this in your favor: you hate what the Nicolaitans are doing, and I hate it too. ⁷ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches. The tree of life stands in God’s paradise, and I will give the right to eat from it to anyone who conquers.’

The letter to Smyrna

⁸ “Write this to the angel of the church in Smyrna. ‘These are the words of the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life. ⁹ I know your suffering and poverty (but you are rich!). I know the blasphemy of those self-styled Jews. They are nothing of the kind. They are a satan-synagogue. ¹⁰ Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look: the devil is going to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be put to the test. You will have ten days of affliction. Be faithful all the way to death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches. The second death will not harm the one who conquers.’

The letter to Pergamum

¹² “Write this to the angel of the church in Pergamum. ‘These are the words of the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. ¹³ I know where you live—right there where the satan has his throne! You have clung on to my name, and have not denied my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed in your midst, right there where the satan lives. ¹⁴ But I do have a few things against you: you have some people there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to cause the children of Israel to stumble, making them eat idol-food and engage in fornication. ¹⁵ So, too, you have some among you who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ So: repent! If you don’t, I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. ¹⁷ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches. To anyone who conquers I will give secret manna, and a white stone, with a new name written on that stone which nobody knows except the one who receives it.’

The letter to Thyatira

¹⁸ “Write this to the angel of the church in Thyatira. ‘These are the words of the son of God, whose eyes are like flaming fire and whose feet are like exquisite brass. ¹⁹ I know what you have done: I know your love, your faith, your service and your patience. I know that your works have been more impressive recently than they were before. ²⁰ But I have something against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and deceives my servants by teaching them to practice fornication and to eat idol-food. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she had no wish to repent of her immorality. ²² Look! I am going to throw her on a bed, and those who have committed fornication with her will have great distress, unless they repent of the works into which she has led them. ²³ I will utterly slaughter her children, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will give to each of you what your deeds deserve. ²⁴ For the rest of you in Thyatira, those who have not held this teaching, who haven’t discovered the so-called “satanic depths”: I’m not going to put any other pressure on you. ²⁵ Just hold on tightly to what you have until I come. ²⁶ To anyone who conquers, who keeps my works right through to the end, I will give authority over the nations, ²⁷ to rule them with a rod of iron, smashing them like clay pots! ²⁸ That is the authority I myself received from my father. What’s more, I will give them the morning star. ²⁹ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit says to the churches.’

The letter to Sardis

3 “Write this to the angel of the church in Sardis. ‘These are the words of the one who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know what you have done. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen the things that remain—the things that are about to die—because I haven’t found your works to be complete in the sight of my God. ³ So remember how you received the message, how you heard it and kept it—and repent! So if you don’t keep awake, I will come like a thief, and you won’t know what time I’m coming to you. ⁴ You do, however, have a few people in Sardis who haven’t allowed their clothes to become dirty and polluted. They will be clothed in white and will walk with me, as they deserve. ⁵ Anyone who conquers will be clothed like this in white robes, and I won’t blot their name out of the book of life. I will acknowledge their name in the presence of my father and in the presence of his angels. ⁶ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches.’

The letter to Philadelphia

⁷ “Write this to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. ‘These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, the one who has the key of David, who opens and nobody shuts, who shuts and nobody opens. ⁸ I know your works. Look! I have given you an open door, right in front of you, and nobody can shut it, since you have a little power; you have kept my word, and you haven’t denied my name. ⁹ Look: this is what I will do to the satan-synagogue, who call themselves Jews but who are frauds, nothing of the kind. Take note: this is what I will grant you—that I will make them come and worship before your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. ¹⁰ You have kept my word about patience, and so I will keep you from the time of trial that is going to come upon the whole world, to test out all the inhabitants of the earth. ¹¹ I am coming quickly! Hold on to what you have, so that nobody takes away your crown. ¹² Anyone who conquers, I will make them a pillar in the temple of my God. They will never go out of it again. I will write on that person the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. ¹³ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches.’

The letter to Laodicea

¹⁴ “Write this to the angel of the church in Laodicea. ‘These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, “I’m rich! I’ve done well! I don’t need anything!”—but you don’t know that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ This is my advice to you: buy from me gold refined in the fire—that’ll make you rich!—and white clothes to cover yourselves and prevent your shameful nakedness being seen; and also healing ointment to put on your eyes, so that you will be able to see. ¹⁹ When it comes to my friends, I tell them when they’re in the wrong, and I punish them for it; so stir up your spirits and repent! ²⁰ Look! I’m standing here, knocking at the door. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me. ²¹ This will be my gift to the one who conquers: I will sit them beside me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat with my father on his throne. ²² Let the one who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches.’ ”

In the throne room

4 After this I looked—and there was a door in heaven, standing open! The voice like a trumpet, which I had heard speaking with me at the beginning, spoke again. “Come up here,” it said, “and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

² At once I was in the spirit. There in heaven stood a throne, and someone was sitting on it. ³ The seated figure had the appearance of a jasper stone or a carnelian, and there was a rainbow around the throne, looking like an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and sitting on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white robes, and with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵ Flashes of lightning, rumblings and thunderclaps were coming from the throne, and in front of the throne seven lampstands, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning with fire. ^6a In front of the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Praise to the creator

^6b In the middle of the throne, and all around the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. ⁷ The first creature was like a lion, the second creature was like an ox, the third creature had a human face, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four creatures had six wings, and they were full of eyes all round and inside. Day and night they take no rest, as they say,

⁹ When the creatures give glory and honor and thanksgiving to the one who is sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down in front of the one who is sitting on the throne, and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They throw down their crowns in front of the throne, saying, ¹¹ “O Lord our God, you deserve to receive glory and honor and power, because you created all things; they existed and were created because that is what you willed.”

The lion, the lamb

5 I saw that there was a scroll in the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. The scroll was written on the inside and the outside, and it was sealed with seven seals. ² I saw a strong angel announcing in a loud voice, “Does anybody deserve to open the scroll, to undo its seals?” ³ And nobody in heaven or on the earth or under the earth could open the scroll or look at it. ⁴ I burst into tears because it seemed that there was nobody who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside it. ⁵ One of the elders, however, spoke to me. “Don’t cry,” he said. “Look! The lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the victory! He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb. It was standing there as though it had been slaughtered; it had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ The lamb came up and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne.

Worthy is the lamb!

⁸ When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down in front of the lamb. They each had a harp, and they each had golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s holy people. ⁹ They sing a new song, which goes like this:

¹¹ As I watched, I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, ¹² and they were declaring in full voice,

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and in the sea, and everything that is in them, saying,

¹⁴ “Amen!” cried the four living creatures. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Four horsemen

6 The next thing I saw was this. When the lamb had opened one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” ² And, as I watched, there was a white horse. Its rider was holding a bow. He was given a crown, and he went off winning victories, and to win more of them.

³ When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ And another horse went out, fiery red this time. Its rider was given permission to take peace away from the earth, so that people would kill one another. He was given a great sword.

⁵ When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” As I watched, there was a black horse. Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ I heard something like a voice coming from the midst of the four living creatures. “A quart of wheat for a dinar!” said the voice. “And three quarts of barley for a dinar! But don’t ruin the oil and the wine!”

⁷ When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ As I looked, there was a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death. Hades followed along behind him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with death, and by means of the earth’s wild animals.

The day is coming!

⁹ When the lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the word of God and because of the witness which they had borne. ¹⁰ They shouted at the tops of their voices. “Holy and true Master!” they called. “How much longer are you going to put off giving judgment, and avenging our blood on the earth-dwellers?” ¹¹ Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest for a little while yet, until the full number of those to be killed, as they had been, was reached—including both their fellow-servants and their kinsfolk.

¹² As I looked, he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake, the sun turned black like sackcloth, the whole moon became like blood, ¹³ and the stars were falling from heaven onto the earth as when a fig tree, shaken by a strong wind, drops its late fruit. ¹⁴ The heaven disappeared like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. ¹⁵ The kings of the earth, the leading courtiers, the generals, the rich, the power-brokers, and everyone, slave and free, all hid themselves among the caves and rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ “Fall upon us!” they were saying to the mountains and the rocks. “Hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne, and from the anger of the lamb! ¹⁷ The great day of their anger has come, and who can stand upright?”

Sealing God’s people

7 After this I saw four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to stop any wind from blowing on earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. ² And I saw another angel coming up from the east, holding the seal of the living God. He shouted out in a loud voice to the four angels who had responsibility for harming the earth and the sea. ³ “Don’t harm the earth just yet,” he shouted, “or the sea, or the trees. Don’t do it until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

⁴ I heard the number of the people who were sealed: it was a hundred and forty-four thousand who were sealed from all the tribes of the children of Israel. ⁵ Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad, ⁶ twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh, ⁷ twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar, ⁸ twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph and twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin. That is the number that were sealed.

The great rescue

⁹ After this I looked, and lo and behold a huge gathering which nobody could possibly count, from every nation and tribe and people and language. They were standing in front of the throne, and in front of the lamb. They were dressed in white robes, holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They were shouting out at the tops of their voices, “Salvation belongs to our God, to the one who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!” ¹¹ All the angels who were standing around the throne and the elders and the four creatures fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. ¹² “Yes, Amen!” they were saying. “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

¹³ One of the elders spoke to me. “Who are these people dressed all in white?” he said. “Where have they come from?”

¹⁴ “Sir,” I replied, “you know!”

“These are the ones,” he said, “who have come out of the great suffering. They have washed their clothes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. ¹⁵ That is why they are there in front of God’s throne, serving him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ¹⁶ They will never be hungry again, or thirsty again. The sun will not scorch them, nor will any fierce heat. ¹⁷ The lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of running water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The golden censer

8 When the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, lasting about half an hour. ² I saw the seven angels who were standing in front of God; they were given seven trumpets. ³ Another angel came and stood before the altar. He was holding a golden censer, and he was given a large quantity of incense so that he could offer it, along with the prayers of all God’s holy people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. ⁴ The smoke of incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose up from the hand of the angel in front of God. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. There were crashes of thunder, loud rumblings, lightning, and an earthquake.

The plagues begin

⁶ Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them. ⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were thrown down on the earth. A third of the earth was burnt up, a third of the trees were burnt up, and so was every blade of green grass. ⁸ Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, flaming with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, ⁹ a third of all living sea-creatures died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. ¹⁰ Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star, burning like a torch, fell from the sky, falling on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Poisonwood: a third of the waters turned to poison, and many people died because of the waters that had become bitter. ¹² Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light would be darkened, with a third of the day losing its light and a third of the night as well. ¹³ Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle flying in mid-heaven, and calling out loudly. “Woe, woe, woe to the earth-dwellers,” it called, “because of the sound of the other trumpets that the last three angels are going to blow!”

Locust attack

9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star falling from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the shaft which leads down to the Abyss. ² The shaft of the Abyss was opened, and smoke came out of the pit like the smoke from a great furnace. The sun and the air became dark with the smoke from the pit. ³ Then, out of that smoke, there appeared locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions on the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, nor any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were given instructions not to kill them, but to torture them for five months, and their torture was like the torture inflicted by the sting of a scorpion. ⁶ In those days people will look for death, and won’t find it. They will long to die, and death will run away from them.

⁷ In appearance, the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what seemed to be crowns of gold on their heads, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails like scorpions’ tails, and stings as well, and their tails have the power to harm people for five months. ¹¹ They have as their king the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and whose name in Greek is Apollyon.

¹² The first Woe has come and gone. The next two Woes are on the way after this.

The fiery riders

¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a lone voice from the four horns of the golden altar in God’s presence, ¹⁴ addressing the sixth angel, who had the trumpet.

“Release the four angels,” said the voice, “the ones who are tied up by the Great River, the Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels were released. They had been prepared for this hour, day, month and year, so that they would kill a third of the human race. ¹⁶ The number of the troops and horsemen was two hundred million. (I heard the number.) ¹⁷ As I looked, this is how the horses and their riders appeared. They had breastplates made of fire, sapphire and sulfur. Their heads were like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke and brimstone came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ One-third of the human race was killed by these three plagues, by the fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ The power of the horses, you see, is in their mouths and their tails, since their tails are like serpents with heads. That is how they do their damage.

²⁰ All the other people, the ones who had not been killed in these plagues, did not repent of the things they had made. They did not stop worshiping demons—idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which cannot see, hear or walk. ²¹ Nor did they repent of their murders, or their magic, or their fornication, or their stealing.

A little scroll

10 Then I saw another strong angel coming down from heaven, dressed in a cloud. Over his head was a rainbow; his face was like the sun, and his feet were like fiery pillars. ² He was holding a small scroll, open, in his hand. Placing his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land, ³ he shouted in a loud voice like a lion roaring. When he shouted, the seven thunders answered with their own voices. ⁴ When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven. “Seal up what the seven thunders said,” instructed the voice. “Don’t write it down.”

⁵ Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand towards heaven ⁶ and swore an oath by the One who lives forever and ever, who made heaven and what it contains, the earth and what it contains, and the sea and what it contains. This was the oath: that there would be no more time, ⁷ but that God’s mystery would be completed in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, who was going to blow his trumpet. That is what he had announced to his servants the prophets.

⁸ The voice I had heard from heaven spoke to me again. “Go,” it said, “and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went up to the angel.

“Give me the little scroll,” I said.

“Take it,” he said to me, “and eat it. It will be bitter in your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” ¹⁰ So I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand, and I ate it. It tasted like sweet honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach felt bitter. ¹¹ “You must prophesy again,” he said to me, “about many peoples, nations, languages and kingdoms.”

Two witnesses

11 Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me. “Get up,” said a voice, “and measure God’s temple, and the altar, and those who are worshiping in it. ² But omit the outer court of the temple. Don’t measure it. It is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. ³ I will give my two witnesses the task of prophesying, clothed in sackcloth, for those one thousand two hundred and sixty days. ⁴ These two are the two olive trees, the two lampstands, which stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. So if anyone wants to harm them, that is how such a person must be killed. ⁶ These two have authority to shut up the sky, so that it will not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have authority over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with any plague, as often as they see fit. ⁷ When they have completed their testimony, the monster that comes up from the Abyss will make war on them, and will defeat and kill them. ⁸ Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. ⁹ Their bodies will be seen by the peoples, tribes, languages and nations for three and a half days. They will not allow their bodies to be buried in a tomb. ¹⁰ The inhabitants of the earth will celebrate over them, and make merry, and send presents to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on earth.”

¹¹ After the three and a half days the spirit of life from God came in to them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on all who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven. “Come up here!” it said. And they went up to heaven on a cloud, with their enemies looking on. ¹³ At that moment there was a huge earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell, and seven thousand of the people were killed by the earthquake. The rest were very much afraid, and glorified the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second Woe has passed. The third Woe is coming very soon.

The song of triumph

¹⁵ The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and loud voices were heard from heaven. “Now the kingdom of the world has passed to our Lord and his Messiah,” said the voices, “and he will reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones in God’s presence fell on their faces and worshiped God.

¹⁷ This is what they said:

¹⁹ God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared inside his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, thunderclaps, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

The woman and the dragon

12 Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was expecting a child, and she cried out in pain, in the agony of giving birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its heads were seven coronets, ⁴ and its tail swept a third of the stars out of heaven and threw them down to the earth. The dragon stood opposite the woman who was about to give birth, so that he could devour her child when it was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a male child, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. The child was snatched away to God and to his throne; ⁶ the woman, meanwhile, fled into the desert, where a place has been prepared for her by God, so that she could be looked after there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

The dragon is angry

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven, with Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fighting back. ⁸ But they could not win, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ So the great dragon was thrown down to the earth—the ancient serpent who is called the devil and the satan, who deceives the whole world. His angels were thrown down with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now at last has come salvation and power: the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah! The accuser of our family has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before God day and night. ¹¹ They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, because they did not love their lives unto death. ¹² So rejoice, you heavens and all who live there! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he only has a short time.”

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been cast down to the earth, he set off in pursuit of the woman who had borne the baby boy. ¹⁴ The woman, however, was given a pair of wings from a great eagle, so that she could fly away from the presence of the serpent into the desert, to the place where she is looked after for a time, two times and half a time. ¹⁵ The serpent, for its part, spat out of its mouth a jet of water like a river after the woman, to carry her off with the force of the water. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing up the river which the dragon had spat out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to wage war against the rest of her children, those who keep God’s commands and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁸ And he stood on the sand beside the sea.

A first monster

13 Then I saw a monster coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. Each of the ten horns was wearing a coronet, and blasphemous names were written on the heads. ² The monster I saw was like a leopard, with bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave the monster its power and its throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads appeared to have been slaughtered and killed, but its fatal wound had been healed. The whole earth was awed and astonished by the monster, ⁴ and worshiped the dragon because it had given the monster its authority. They worshiped the monster too. “Who is like the monster?” they were saying. “Who can fight against it?” ⁵ And the monster was given a mouth that speaks great, blasphemous words, and was given authority for forty-two months. ⁶ It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, to curse his name and his dwelling place—that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ It was granted the right to make war against God’s holy people and to defeat them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation. ⁸ So everyone who lived on earth worshiped it—everyone, that is, whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the slaughtered lamb.

⁹ If anyone has ears, let them hear!

¹⁰ If anyone is to be taken captive, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed. This is a summons for God’s holy people to be patient and have faith.

A second monster

¹¹ Then I saw another monster coming up from the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It acts in the presence of the first monster and with its full authority, and it makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first monster, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ It performs great signs, so that it even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of people, ¹⁴ and it deceives the people who live on earth by the signs which it has been allowed to perform in front of the monster, instructing the earth’s inhabitants to make an image of the monster who had the sword-wound but was alive. ¹⁵ It was allowed to give breath to the monster’s image, so that the monster’s image could speak, and it could kill anyone who didn’t worship the monster’s image. ¹⁶ It makes everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slaves, receive a sign from it, marked on their right hands and on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that nobody can buy or sell unless they have the mark of the name of the monster or the number of its name.

¹⁸ This calls for wisdom. Anyone with a good head on their shoulders should work out the monster’s number, because it’s the number of a human being. Its number is Six Hundred and Sixty-Six.

The lamb’s elite warriors

14 As I watched, there was the lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name, and the name of his father, written on their foreheads. ² I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunder, and the voice I heard was like harpists playing on their harps. ³ And they are singing a new song before the throne, and before the four creatures and the elders. Nobody can learn that song except for the hundred and forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who have never polluted themselves with women; they are celibate. They follow the lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from the human race as first fruits for God and the lamb, ⁵ and no lie has been found in their mouths. They are without blemish.

A call for endurance

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, carrying an eternal gospel to announce to those who live on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. ⁷ He spoke with a loud voice, and this is what he said: “Fear God! Give him glory! The time has come for his judgment! Worship the one who made heaven and earth and the sea and the springs of water!”

⁸ He was followed by another angel, and this is what he said: “Babylon the great has fallen! She has fallen! She is the one who made all the nations drink the wine of the anger that comes upon her fornication.”

⁹ They were followed by a third angel, who also spoke in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the monster and its image, or receives its mark on their forehead or their hand, ¹⁰ that person will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured neat into the cup of his anger, and they will be tortured in fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the lamb. ¹¹ The smoke of their torture goes up forever and ever. Those who worship the monster and its image, and those who receive the mark of its name, will have no respite, day or night.”

¹² This demands patience from God’s holy people, who keep God’s commands and the faith of Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Write this: God’s blessing on the dead who from this time onward die in the Lord.”

“Yes,” says the spirit, “so that they may rest from their works, for the deeds they have done follow after them.”

Reaping the harvest

¹⁴ Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one like a son of man. He had a gold crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ And another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one who was sitting on the cloud, “It’s harvest time! Put in your sickle and reap: the harvest of the earth is ripe!” ¹⁶ So the one sitting on the cloud applied his sickle to the earth, and reaped the harvest of the earth.

¹⁷ Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He, too, had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Yet another angel came from the altar; he had authority over fire, and he spoke with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle. “Go to work with your sharp sickle,” he said, “and gather the clusters of fruit from the vine of the earth; the grapes are there in ripe bunches!” ¹⁹ So the angel went to work with his sickle on the earth, and gathered the fruit from the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of God’s anger. ²⁰ The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for about two hundred miles.

Preparing the final plagues

15 Then I saw another sign—a great, amazing sight in heaven: seven angels who were bringing the seven last plagues. With them God’s anger is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass, mixed with fire. There, by that glassy sea, stood the people who had won the victory over the monster and over its image, and over the number of its name. They were holding harps of God, ³ and they were singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the lamb. This is how it went:

⁵ After this I looked, and the temple of the “tabernacle of witness” was opened in heaven. ⁶ The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in clean, shining linen, wearing golden belts across their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of the God who lives forever and ever. ⁸ The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and his power. Nobody was able to go into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels had been completed.

The first four plagues

16 Then I heard a loud voice coming from the temple, addressing the seven angels. “Off you go,” said the voice, “and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s anger.” ² So the first one went off and poured out his bowl on the earth. Foul, painful sores came on the people who had the mark of the monster, and on those who worshiped its image. ³ The second one poured his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that from a corpse. Every living thing in the sea died. ⁴ The third one poured his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel of the waters saying,

⁷ And I heard the altar respond, “Yes, Lord God Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”

⁸ Then the fourth angel poured his bowl upon the sun, and it was allowed to burn people with its fire. ⁹ People were burned up by its great heat, and they cursed the name of the God who had authority over these plagues. They did not repent or give him glory.

The last three plagues

¹⁰ Then the fifth angel poured his bowl upon the throne of the monster. Its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and people chewed their tongues because of the pain ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their agonies and their terrible sores. They did not repent of what they had been doing.

¹² Then the sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings from the rising sun. ¹³ Then I saw three unclean spirits coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the monster, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They were like frogs. ¹⁴ These are the spirits of demons, who perform signs and go off to the kings of the whole earth, to gather them together for war on the great day of Almighty God. ¹⁵ (Look—I am coming like a thief! God’s blessing on the one who stays awake, and on those who keep their robes about them, so as not to go around naked and have their shame exposed!) ¹⁶ And they gathered the kings together at the place which in Hebrew is called Mount Megiddo.

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured his bowl on the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne. “It is done!” said the voice. ¹⁸ There were lightnings and rumblings, and thunderclaps and a great earthquake, such as there had never been before, no, not such a great earthquake since the time that humans came on the earth. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. Then Babylon the Great was recalled in the presence of God, so that he could give her the cup of the wine of his anger. ²⁰ Every island fled away, and the mountains disappeared. ²¹ Enormous hailstones, each weighing a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people. They cursed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was terrible.

Babylon the Great

17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits on many waters. ² She is the one with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication; she is the one whose fornication has been the wine that has made all the earth-dwellers drunk.”

³ So he took me away, in the spirit, to the desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet monster. It was full of blasphemous names, and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was wearing purple and scarlet, and was decked out with gold, precious stones and pearls. In her hand she was holding a golden goblet, full of abominations and the impurities of her fornications. ⁵ On her forehead was written a name: “Mystery! Babylon the Great, Mother of Whores and of Earth’s Abominations!” ⁶ I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I was very greatly astonished.

⁷ “Why are you so astonished?” asked the angel. “I will explain to you the secret of the woman, and of the monster that is carrying her, the one which has the seven heads and the ten horns. ⁸ The monster you saw was, and is not, and is due to come up from the Abyss and go to destruction. All the inhabitants of the earth will be amazed—all, that is, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world—when they see the monster that was and is not and is to come.

The monster and the whore

⁹ “This is a moment for a wise and discerning mind. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sits. And there are seven kings: ¹⁰ five have fallen, one is still there, and the other has not yet arrived—and when he does come he is destined to remain for only a short time. ¹¹ And the monster, which was and is not, he is the eighth king. He is also one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. ¹² The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received their kingdom, but will receive their authority as kings with the monster for a single hour. ¹³ All of these are of one mind: they give their power and authority to the monster. ¹⁴ They will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

¹⁵ “As for the waters you saw,” he continued, “where the whore was sitting, these are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. ¹⁶ The ten horns you saw, and the monster, will hate the whore and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and then burn her in the fire. ¹⁷ God has put it into their hearts to do his will and, with a single purpose, to give their kingdom to the monster, until God’s words are completed. ¹⁸ The woman which you saw is the great city that has royal dominion over the kings of the earth.”