Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Revelation
Excerpt
Book 66 Revelation
001:001 The revelation given by Jesus Christ, which God granted
Him,
that He might make
known to His servants certain events
which must shortly
come to pass: and He sent His angel
and communicated it
to His servant John.
001:002 This is the John who taught the truth concerning the
Word
of God and the
truth told us by Jesus Christ—a faithful
account of what he
had seen.
001:003 Blessed is he who reads and blessed are those who listen to
the
words of this
prophecy and lay to heart what is written in it;
for the time for
its fulfillment is now close at hand.
001:004 John sends greetings to the seven Churches in the province
of Asia.
May grace be
granted to you, and peace, from Him who is
and was and
evermore will be; and from the seven Spirits
which are before
His throne;
001:005 and from Jesus Christ, the truthful witness, the first of
the dead
to be born to Life,
and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.
To Him who loves us
and has freed us from our sins with
His own
blood,
001:006 and has formed us into a Kingdom, to be priests to God, His
Father—
to Him be ascribed
the glory and the power until the Ages
of the Ages.
Amen.
001:007 He is coming in the clouds, and every eye will see
Him,
and so will those
who pierced Him; and all the nations
of the earth will
gaze on Him and mourn. Even so. Amen.
001:008 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord
God, “He who is
and was and
evermore will be—the Ruler of all.”
001:009 I John, your brother, and a sharer with you in the
sorrows
and Kingship and
patient endurance of Jesus, found myself
in the island of
Patmos, on account of the Word of God
and the truth told
us by Jesus.
001:010 In the Spirit I found myself present on the day of the
Lord,
and I heard behind
me a loud voice which resembled the blast
of a
trumpet.
001:011 It said, “Write forthwith in a roll an account of
what you see,
and send it to the
seven Churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna,
Pergamum,
Thyateira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
001:012 I turned to see who it was that was speaking to me; and
then
I saw seven golden
lampstands,
001:013 and in the center of the lampstands some One
resembling
the Son of Man,
clothed in a robe which reached to His feet,
and with a girdle
of gold across His breast.
001:014 His head and His hair were white, like white
wool—as white as snow;
and His eyes
resembled a flame of fire.
001:015 His feet were like silver-bronze, when it is white-hot in a
furnace;
and His voice
resembled the sound of many waters.
001:016 In His right hand He held seven stars, and a
sharp,
two-edged sword was
seen coming from His mouth; and His glance
resembled the sun
when it is shining with its full strength.
001:017 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were
dead.
But He laid His
right hand upon me and said, “Do not be
afraid:
I am the First and
the Last, and the ever-living One.
001:018 I died; but I am now alive until the Ages of the
Ages,
and I have the keys
of the gates of Death and of Hades!
001:019 Write down therefore the things you have just
seen,
and those which are
now taking place, and those which are
soon to
follow:
001:020 the secret meaning of the seven stars which you have
seen
in My right hand,
and of the seven lampstands of gold.
The seven stars are
the ministers of the seven Churches,
and the seven
lampstands are the seven Churches.
002:001 “To the minister of the Church in Ephesus write as
follows:
“`This is
what He who holds the seven stars in the grasp of His
right hand
says—He who walks to and fro among the seven
lampstands of
gold.
002:002 I know your doings and your toil and patient
suffering.
And I know that you
cannot tolerate wicked men, but have put
to the test those
who say that they themselves are Apostles
but are not, and
you have found them to be liars.
002:003 And you endure patiently and have borne burdens for My
sake
and have never
grown weary.
002:004 Yet I have this against you—that you no longer
love Me as you
did at
first.
002:005 Be mindful, therefore, of the height from which you have
fallen.
Repent at once, and
act as you did at first, or else I
will surely come
and remove your lampstand out of its place—
unless you
repent.
002:006 Yet this you have in your favor: you hate the doings
of
the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate.
002:007 “`Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit
is
saying to the
Churches. To him who overcomes I will give
the privilege of
eating the fruit of the Tree of Life,
which is in the
Paradise of God.’
002:008 “To the minister of the Church at Smyrna write as
follows:
“`This is
what the First and the Last says—He who died
and has returned to
life.
002:009 Your sufferings I know, and your poverty—but you
are rich—
and the evil name
given you by those who say that they
themselves are
Jews, and are not, but are Satan’s synagogue.
002:010 Dismiss your fears concerning all that you are about to
suffer.
I tell you that the
Devil is about to throw some of you into
prison that you may
be put to the test, and for ten days you
will have to endure
persecution. Be faithful to the End,
even if you have to
die, and then I will give you the victor’s
Wreath of
Life.
002:011 “`Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit
is saying
to the
Churches. He who overcomes shall be in no way hurt
by the Second
Death.’
002:012 “To the minister of the Church at Pergamum write as
follows:
“`This is
what He who has the sharp, two-edged sword says.
I know where you
dwell.
002:013 Satan’s throne is there; and yet you are true to Me,
and did
not deny your faith
in Me, even in the days of Antipas My
witness and
faithful friend, who was put to death among you,
in the place where
Satan dwells.
002:014 Yet I have a few things against you, because you have with
you
some that cling to
the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak
to put a
stumbling-block in the way of the descendants of
Israel—
to eat what had
been sacrificed to idols, and commit fornication.
002:015 So even you have some that cling in the same way to the
teaching
of the
Nicolaitans.
002:016 Repent, at once; or else I will come to you quickly, and
will
make war upon them
with the sword which is in My mouth.
002:017 “`Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit
is saying
to the
Churches. He who overcomes—to him I will give
some
of the hidden
Manna, and a white stone; and—written upon
the stone and known
only to him who receives it—a new name.’
002:018 “To the minister of the Church at Thyateira write as
follows:
“`This is
what the Son of God says—He who has eyes like a
flame
of fire, and feet
resembling silver-bronze.
002:019 I know your doings, your love, your faith, your
service,
and your patient
endurance; and that of late you have toiled
harder than you did
at first.
002:020 Yet I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman
Jezebel,
who calls herself a
prophetess and by her teaching leads
astray My servants,
so that they commit fornication and eat
what has been
sacrificed to idols.
002:021 I have given her time to repent, but she is determined
not
to repent of her
fornication.
002:022 I tell you that I am about to cast her upon a bed of
sickness,
and I will severely
afflict those who commit adultery with her,
unless they repent
of conduct such as hers.
002:023 Her children too shall surely die; and all the Churches
shall come
to know that I am
He who searches into men’s inmost thoughts;
and to each of you
I will give a requital which shall be
in accordance with
what your conduct has been.
002:024 But to you, the rest of you in Thyateira, all who do
not
hold this teaching
and are not the people who have learnt
the “deep
things,” as they call them (the deep things of
Satan!)—
to you I say that I
lay no other burden on you.
002:025 Only that which you already possess, cling to until I
come.
002:026 “`And to him who overcomes and obeys My commands to
the very end,
I will give
authority over the nations of the earth.
002:027 And he shall be their shepherd, ruling them with a rod of
iron,
just as earthenware
jars are broken to pieces; and his power
over them shall be
like that which I Myself have received
from My
Father;
002:028 and I will give him the Morning Star.
002:029 Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is
saying
to the
Churches.’
003:001 “To the minister of the Church at Sardis write as
follows:
“`This is
what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven
stars says. I
know your doings—you are supposed to be alive,
but in reality you
are dead.
003:002 Rouse yourself and keep awake, and strengthen those
things
which remain but
have well-nigh perished; for I have found
no doings of yours
free from imperfection in the sight
of My
God.
003:003 Be mindful, therefore, of the lessons you have received and
heard.
Continually lay
them to heart, and repent. If, however,
you fail to rouse
yourself and keep awake, I shall come upon
you suddenly like a
thief, and you will certainly not know
the hour at which I
shall come to judge you.
003:004 Yet you have in Sardis a few who have not soiled their
garments;
and they shall walk
with Me in white; for they are worthy.
003:005 “`In this way he who overcomes shall be clothed in
white garments;
and I will
certainly not blot out his name from the Book
of Life, but will
acknowledge him in the presence of My Father
and His
angels.
003:006 Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is
saying
to the
Churches.’
003:007 “To the minister of the Church at Philadelphia write
as follows:
“`This is
what the holy One and the true says—He who has
the key of
David—He who opens and no one shall shut,
and shuts and no
one shall open.
003:008 I know your doings. I have put an opened door in
front of you,
which no one can
shut; because you have but a little power,
and yet you have
guarded My word and have not disowned Me.
003:009 I will cause some belonging to Satan’s synagogue who
say
that they
themselves are Jews, and are not, but are
liars—
I will make them
come and fall at your feet and know for certain
that I have loved
you.
003:010 Because in spite of suffering you have guarded My
word,
I in turn will
guard you from that hour of trial which is soon
coming upon the
whole world, to put to the test the inhabitants
of the
earth.
003:011 I am coming quickly: cling to that which you already
possess,
so that your wreath
of victory be not taken away from you.
003:012 “`He who overcomes—I will make him a
pillar in the sanctuary
of My God, and he
shall never go out from it again.
And I will write on
him the name of My God, and the name
of the city of My
God, the new Jerusalem, which is to come
down out of Heaven
from My God, and My own new name.
003:013 Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is
saying
to the
Churches.’
003:014 “And to the minister of the Church at Laodicea write
as follows:
“`This is
what the Amen says—the true and faithful
witness,
the Beginning and
Lord of God’s Creation.
003:015 I know your doings—you are neither cold nor hot;
I would
that you were cold
or hot!
003:016 Accordingly, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor
cold,
before long I will
vomit you out of My mouth.
003:017 You say, I am rich, and have wealth stored up, and I stand
in need
of nothing; and you
do not know that if there is a wretched
creature it is
you—pitiable, poor, blind, naked.
003:018 Therefore I counsel you to buy of Me gold refined in the
fire
that you may become
rich, and white robes to put on,
so as to hide your
shameful nakedness, and eye-salve to anoint
your eyes with, so
that you may be able to see.
003:019 All whom I hold dear, I reprove and chastise; therefore
be
in earnest and
repent.
003:020 I am now standing at the door and am knocking. If any
one listens
to My voice and
opens the door, I will go in to be with him
and will feast with
him, and he shall feast with Me.
003:021 “`To him who overcomes I will give the privilege of
sitting
down with Me on My
throne, as I also have overcome and have
sat down with My
Father on His throne.
003:022 Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is
saying
to the
Churches.’”
004:001 After all this I looked and saw a door in Heaven standing
open,
and the voice that
I had previously heard, which resembled
the blast of a
trumpet, again spoke to me and said, “Come up here,
and I will show you
things which are to happen in the future.”
004:002 Immediately I found myself in the Spirit, and saw a
throne
in Heaven, and some
One sitting on the throne.
004:003 The appearance of Him who sat there was like jasper or
sard;
and encircling the
throne was a rainbow, in appearance
like an
emerald.
004:004 Surrounding the throne there were also twenty-four other
thrones,
on which sat
twenty-four Elders clothed in white robes,
with victors’
wreaths of gold upon their heads.
004:005 Out from the throne there came flashes of lightning, and
voices,
and peals of
thunder, while in front of the throne seven blazing
lamps were burning,
which are the seven Spirits of God.
004:006 And in front of the throne there seemed to be a sea of
glass,
resembling
crystal. And midway between the throne and the
Elders,
and surrounding the
throne, were four living creatures,
full of eyes in
front and behind.
004:007 The first living creature resembled a lion, the second an
ox,
the third had a
face like that of a man, and the fourth
resembled an eagle
flying.
004:008 And each of the four living creatures had six
wings,
and in every
direction, and within, are full of eyes;
and day after day,
and night after night, they never
cease saying,
“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Ruler of all,
who wast and art
and evermore shalt be.”
004:009 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and
thanks
to Him who is
seated on the throne, and lives until the Ages
of the
Ages,
004:010 the twenty-four Elders fall down before Him who sits on
the
throne and worship
Him who lives until the Ages of the Ages,
and they cast their
wreaths down in front of the throne,
004:011 saying, “It is fitting, O our Lord and God, That we
should
ascribe unto Thee
the glory and the honor and the power;
For Thou didst
create all things, And because it was Thy
will they came into
existence, and were created.”
005:001 And I saw lying in the right hand of Him who sat on the
throne
a book written on
both sides and closely sealed with seven seals.
005:002 And I saw a mighty angel who was exclaiming in a loud
voice,
“Who is
worthy to open the book and break its seals?”
005:003 But no one in Heaven, or on earth, or under the
earth,
was able to open
the book or look into it.
005:004 And while I was weeping bitterly, because no one was
found
worthy to open the
book or look into it,
005:005 one of the Elders said to me, “Do not weep. The
Lion which
belongs to the
tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed,
and will open the
book and break its seven seals.”
005:006 Then, midway between the throne and the four living
creatures,
I saw a Lamb
standing among the Elders. He looked as if He had
been offered in
sacrifice, and He had seven horns and seven eyes.
The last-named are
the seven Spirits of God, and have been
sent far and wide
into all the earth.
005:007 So He comes, and now He has taken the book out of the
right
hand of Him who is
seated on the throne.
005:008 And when He had taken the book, the four living
creatures
and the twenty-four
Elders fell down before the Lamb,
having each of them
a harp and bringing golden bowls full
of incense, which
represent the prayers of God’s people.
005:009 And now they sing a new song. “It is
fitting,” they say,
“that Thou
shouldst be the One to take the book And break
its seals; Because
Thou hast been offered in sacrifice,
And hast purchased
for God with Thine own blood Some out
of every tribe and
language and people and nation,
005:010 And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests
to
our God, And they
reign over the earth.”
005:011 And I looked, and heard what seemed to be the voices of
countless
angels on every
side of the throne, and of the living
creatures and the
Elders. Their number was myriads of myriads
and thousands of
thousands,
005:012 and in loud voices they were singing, “It is fitting
that
the Lamb which has
been offered in sacrifice should receive
all power and
riches and wisdom and might and honor and
glory and
blessing.”
005:013 And as for every created thing in Heaven and on earth and
under
the earth and on
the sea, and everything that was in any of these,
I heard them say,
“To Him who is seated on the throne,
And to the Lamb, Be
ascribed all blessing and honor And glory
and might, Until
the Ages of the Ages!”
005:014 Then the four living creatures said “Amen,” and
the Elders
fell down and
worshipped.
006:001 And when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals I saw
it,
and I heard one of
the four living creatures say, as if in
a voice of thunder,
“Come.”
006:002 And I looked and a white horse appeared, and its
rider
carried a bow; and
a victor’s wreath was given to him;
and he went out
conquering and in order to conquer.
006:003 And when the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the
second
living creature
say, “Come.”
006:004 And another horse came out—a fiery-red one; and
power was given
to its rider to
take peace from the earth, and to cause men
to kill one
another; and a great sword was given to him.
006:005 When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third
living
creature say,
“Come.” I looked, and a black horse
appeared,
its rider carrying
a balance in his hand.
006:006 And I heard what seemed to be a voice speaking in the
midst
of the four living
creatures, and saying, “A quart of wheat
for a shilling, and
three quarts of barley for a shilling;
but do not injure
either the oil or the wine.”
006:007 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal I heard the voice
of
the fourth living
creature say, “Come.”
006:008 I looked and a pale-colored horse appeared. Its
rider’s name
was Death, and
Hades came close behind him; and authority
was given to them
over the fourth part of the earth, to kill
with the sword or
with famine or pestilence or by means
of the wild beasts
of the earth.
006:009 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of
the altar
the souls of those
whose lives had been sacrificed because of
the word of God and
of the testimony which they had given.
006:010 And now in loud voices they cried out, saying, “How
long,
O Sovereign Lord,
the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay
judgment and the
taking of vengeance upon the inhabitants
of the earth for
our blood?”
006:011 And there was given to each of them a long white
robe,
and they were
bidden to wait patiently for a short time longer,
until the full
number of their fellow bondservants should
also
complete—namely of their brethren who were soon to
be
killed just as they
had been.
006:012 When the Lamb broke the sixth seal I looked, and there
was
a great earthquake,
and the sun became as dark as sackcloth,
and the whole disc
of the moon became like blood.
006:013 The stars in the sky also fell to the earth, as when a
fig-tree,
upon being shaken
by a gale of wind, casts its unripe figs
to the
ground.
006:014 The sky too passed away, as if a scroll were being rolled
up,
and every mountain
and island was removed from its place.
006:015 The kings of the earth and the great men, the military
chiefs,
the wealthy and the
powerful—all, whether slaves or free
men—
hid themselves in
the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
006:016 while they called to the mountains and the rocks,
saying,
“Fall on us
and hide us from the presence of Him who sits
on the throne and
from the anger of the Lamb;
006:017 for the day of His anger—that great
day—has come, and who is
able to
stand?”
007:001 After this I saw four angels standing at the four
corners
of the earth, and
holding back the four winds of the earth
so that no wind
should blow over the earth or the sea
or upon any
tree.
007:002 And I saw another angel coming from the east and
carrying
a seal belonging to
the ever-living God. He called in a loud
voice to the four
angels whose work it was to injure the earth
and the
sea.
007:003 “Injure neither land nor sea nor trees,” he
said, “until we
have sealed the
bondservants of our God upon their foreheads.”
007:004 When the sealing was finished, I heard how many
were
sealed out of the
tribes of the descendants of Israel.
They were
144,000.
007:005 Of the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed; Of the
tribe
of Reuben, 12,000;
Of the tribe of Gad, 12,000;
007:006 Of the tribe of Asher, 12,000; Of the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000;
Of the tribe of
Manasseh, 12,000;
007:007 Of the tribe of Symeon, 12,000; Of the tribe of Levi,
12,000;
Of the tribe of
Issachar, 12,000;
007:008 Of the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000; Of the tribe of Joseph,
12,000;
Of the tribe of
Benjamin, 12,000.
007:009 After this I looked, and a vast host appeared which it
was
impossible for
anyone to count, gathered out of every nation
and from all tribes
and peoples and languages, standing before
the throne and
before the Lamb, clothed in long white robes,
and carrying
palm-branches in their hands.
007:010 In loud voices they were exclaiming, “It is to our
God who is seated
on the throne, and
to the Lamb, that we owe our salvation!”
007:011 All the angels were standing in a circle round the
throne
and round the
Elders and the four living creatures, and they
fell on their faces
in front of the throne and worshipped God.
007:012 “Even so!” they cried: “The
blessing and the glory
and the wisdom and
the thanks and the honor and the power
and the might are
to be ascribed to our God, until the Ages
of the Ages!
Even so!”
007:013 Then, addressing me, one of the Elders said, “Who are
these
people clothed in
the long white robes? And where have
they come
from?”
007:014 “My lord, you know,” I replied.
“They are those,”
he said, “who
have just passed through the great distress,
and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood
of the
Lamb.
007:015 For this reason they stand before the very throne of
God,
and render Him
service, day after day and night after night,
in His sanctuary,
and He who is sitting upon the throne
will shelter them
in His tent.
007:016 They will never again be hungry or thirsty, and never
again
will the sun or any
scorching heat trouble them.
007:017 For the Lamb who is in front of the throne will be their
Shepherd,
and will guide them
to watersprings of Life, and God will wipe
every tear from
their eyes.”
008:001 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was
silence
in Heaven for about
half an hour.
008:002 Then I saw the seven angels who are in the presence of
God,
and seven trumpets
were given to them.
008:003 And another angel came and stood close to the
altar,
carrying a censer
of gold; and abundance of incense was given
to him that he
might place it with the prayers of all God’s
people upon the
golden altar which was in front of the throne.
008:004 And the smoke of the incense rose into the presence of God
from
the angel’s
hand, and mingled with the prayers of His people.
008:005 So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire
from
the altar and flung
it to the earth; and there followed
peals of thunder,
and voices, and flashes of lightning,
and an
earthquake.
008:006 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made
preparations
for blowing
them.
008:007 The first blew his trumpet; and there came hail and
fire,
mixed with blood,
falling upon the earth; and a third part
of the earth was
burnt up, and a third part of the trees
and all the green
grass.
008:008 The second angel blew his trumpet; and what seemed to be
a
great mountain, all
ablaze with fire, was hurled into the sea;
and a third part of
the sea was turned into blood.
008:009 And a third part of the creatures that were in the
sea—those that
had
life—died; and a third part of the ships were
destroyed.
008:010 The third angel blew his trumpet; and there fell from
Heaven
a great star, which
was on fire like a torch. It fell upon
a third part of the
rivers and upon the springs of water.
008:011 The name of the star is `Wormwood;’ and a third part
of the waters
were turned into
wormwood, and vast numbers of the people
died from drinking
the water, because it had become bitter.
008:012 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet; and a curse
fell
upon a third part
of the sun, a third part of the moon,
and a third part of
the stars, so that a third part of them
were darkened and
for a third of the day, and also of the night,
there was no
light.
008:013 Then I looked, and I heard a solitary eagle crying in a
loud voice,
as it flew across
the sky, “Alas, alas, alas, for the inhabitants
of the earth,
because of the significance of the remaining
trumpets which the
three angels are about to blow!”
009:001 The fifth angel blew his trumpet; and I saw a Star which
had
fallen from Heaven
to the earth; and to him was given the key
of the depths of
the bottomless pit,
009:002 and he opened the depths of the bottomless pit. And
smoke came
up out of the pit
resembling the smoke of a vast furnace,
so that the sun was
darkened, and the air also, by reason
of the smoke of the
pit.
009:003 And from the midst of the smoke there came locusts on
to
the earth, and
power was given to them resembling the power
which earthly
scorpions possess.
009:004 And they were forbidden to injure the herbage of the earth,
or any
green thing, or any
tree. They were only to injure human
beings—
those who have not
the seal of God on their foreheads.
009:005 Their mission was not to kill, but to cause awful agony
for
five months; and
this agony was like that which a scorpion
inflicts when it
stings a man.
009:006 And at that time people will seek death, but will by no
possibility
find it, and will
long to die, but death evades them.
009:007 The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses
equipped
for war. On
their heads they had wreaths which looked like gold.
009:008 Their faces seemed human and they had hair like
women’s hair,
but their teeth
resembled those of lions.
009:009 They had breast-plates which seemed to be made of
steel;
and the noise
caused by their wings was like that of a vast
number of horses
and chariots hurrying into battle.
009:010 They had tails like those of scorpions, and also
stings;
and in their tails
lay their power of injuring mankind
for five
months.
009:011 The locusts had a king over them—the angel of
the bottomless pit,
whose name in
Hebrew is `Abaddon,’ while in the Greek
he is called
`Apollyon.’
009:012 The first woe is past; two other woes have still to
come.
009:013 The sixth angel blew his trumpet; and I heard a single
voice
speaking from among
the horns of the golden incense altar
which is in the
presence of God.
009:014 It said to the sixth angel—the angel who had the
trumpet,
“Set at
liberty the four angels who are prisoners near
the great river
Euphrates.”
009:015 And the four angels who had been kept in readiness
for
that hour, day,
month, and year, were set at liberty,
so that they might
kill a third part of mankind.
009:016 The number of the cavalry was two hundred
millions;
I heard their
number.
009:017 And this was the appearance of the horses which I saw in my
vision—
and of their
riders. The body-armour of the riders was red,
blue and yellow;
and the horses’ heads were shaped like
the heads of lions,
while from their mouths there came fire
and smoke and
sulphur.
009:018 By these three plagues a third part of mankind were
destroyed—
by the fire and the
smoke, and by the sulphur which came
from their
mouths.
009:019 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their
tails;
their tails being
like serpents, and having heads, and it
is with them that
they inflict injury.
009:020 But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these
plagues,
did not even then
repent and leave the things they had made,
so as to cease
worshipping the demons, and the idols of gold
and silver, bronze,
stone, and wood, which can neither see
nor hear, nor
move.
009:021 Nor did they repent of their murders, their practice of
magic,
their fornication,
or their thefts.
010:001 Then I saw another strong angel coming down from
Heaven.
He was robed in a
cloud, and over his head was the rainbow.
His face was like
the sun, and his feet resembled pillars of fire.
010:002 In his hand he held a small scroll unrolled; and, planting
his
right foot on the
sea and his left foot on the land,
010:003 he cried out in a loud voice which resembled the roar of a
lion.
And when he had
cried out, each of the seven peals of thunder
uttered its own
message.
010:004 And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was
about
to write down what
they had said; but I heard a voice from
Heaven which told
me to keep secret all that the seven peals
of thunder had
said, and not write it down.
010:005 Then the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the
land,
lifted his right
hand toward Heaven.
010:006 And in the name of Him who lives until the Ages of the
Ages,
the Creator of
Heaven and all that is in it, of the earth
and all that is in
it, and of the sea and all that is in it,
he solemnly
declared,
010:007 “There shall be no further delay; but in the days
when the
seventh angel blows
his trumpet—when he begins to do
so—
then the secret
purposes of God are realized, in accordance
with the good news
which He gave to His servants the Prophets.”
010:008 Then the voice which I had heard speaking from Heaven
once
more addressed
me. It said, “Go and take the little book
which lies open in
the hand of the angel who is standing
on the sea and on
the land.”
010:009 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little
book.
“Take
it,” he said, “and eat the whole of it. You will
find
it bitter when you
have eaten it, although in your mouth it
will taste as sweet
as honey.”
010:010 So I took the roll out of the angel’s hand and ate
the whole of it;
and in my mouth it
was as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten
it I found it very
bitter.
010:011 And a voice said to me, “You must prophesy yet
further
concerning peoples,
nations, languages, and many kings.”
011:001 Then a reed was given me to serve as a measuring
rod;
and a voice said,
“Rise, and measure God’s
sanctuary—
and the
altar—and count the worshipers who are in it.
011:002 But as for the court which is outside the sanctuary, pass
it over.
Do not measure it;
for it has been given to the Gentiles,
and for forty-two
months they will trample the holy
city under
foot.
011:003 And I will authorize My two witnesses to prophesy for 1,260
days,
clothed in
sackcloth.
011:004 “These witnesses are the two olive-trees, and they
are the two
lamps which stand
in the presence of the Lord of the earth.
011:005 And if any one seeks to injure them—fire comes
from their mouths
and devours their
enemies; and if any one seeks to injure them,
he will in this way
certainly be killed.
011:006 They have power given to them to seal up the sky, so
that
no rain may fall so
long as they continue to prophesy;
and power over the
waters to turn them into blood, and to smite
the earth with
various plagues whenever they choose to do so.
011:007 “And when they have fully delivered their
testimony,
the Wild Beast
which is to rise out of the bottomless pit
will make war upon
them and overcome them and kill them.
011:008 And their dead bodies are to lie in the broad street of the
great
city which
spiritually is designated `Sodom’ and
`Egypt,’
where indeed their
Lord was crucified.
011:009 And men belonging to all peoples, tribes, languages
and
nations gaze at
their dead bodies for three days and a half,
but they refuse to
let them be laid in a tomb.
011:010 The inhabitants of the earth rejoice over them and are
glad
and will send gifts
to one another; for these two Prophets
had greatly
troubled the inhabitants of the earth.”
011:011 But at the end of the three days and a half the breath of
life
from God entered
into them, and they rose to their feet;
and all who saw
them were terrified.
011:012 Then they heard a loud voice calling to them out of
Heaven,
and bidding them
come up; and they went up to Heaven in the cloud,
and their enemies
saw them go.
011:013 And just as that time there was a great earthquake, and a
tenth
part of the city
was overthrown. 7,000 people were killed
in the earthquake,
and the rest were terrified and gave glory
to the God of
Heaven.
011:014 The second Woe is past; the third Woe will soon be
here.
011:015 The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed
loud
voices in Heaven
which said, “The sovereignty of the world
now belongs to our
Lord and His Christ; and He will be King
until the Ages of
the Ages.”
011:016 Then the twenty-four Elders, who sit on thrones in the
presence
of God, fell on
their faces and worshipped God,
011:017 saying, “We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Ruler
of all,
Who art and wast,
because Thou hast exerted Thy power,
Thy great power,
and hast become King.
011:018 The nations grew angry, and Thine anger has come, and the
time
for the dead to be
judged, and the time for Thee to give
their reward to Thy
servants the Prophets and to Thy people,
and to those who
fear Thee, the small and the great,
and to destroy
those who destroy the earth.”
011:019 Then the doors of God’s sanctuary in Heaven were
opened,
and the Ark, in
which His Covenant was, was seen in His sanctuary;
and there came
flashes of lightning, and voices, and peals
of thunder, and an
earthquake, and heavy hail.
012:001 And a great marvel was seen in Heaven—a woman
who was robed
with the sun and
had the moon under her feet, and had also
a wreath of stars
round her head, was with child,
012:002 and she was crying out in the pains and agony of
childbirth.
012:003 And another marvel was seen in Heaven—a great
fiery-red Dragon,
with seven heads
and ten horns; and on his heads were
seven kingly
crowns.
012:004 His tail was drawing after it a third part of the stars of
Heaven,
and it dashed them
to the ground. And in front of the woman
who was about to
become a mother, the Dragon was standing
in order to devour
the child as soon as it was born.
012:005 She gave birth to a son—a male child, destined
before long
to rule all nations
with an iron scepter. But her child
was caught up to
God and His throne,
012:006 and the woman fled into the Desert, there to be cared
for,
for 1,260 days, in
a place which God had prepared for her.
012:007 And war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angels
engaging
in battle with the
Dragon.
012:008 The Dragon fought and so did his angels; but they were
defeated,
and there was no
longer any room found for them in Heaven.
012:009 The great Dragon, the ancient serpent, he who is called
`the Devil’
and `the
Adversary’ and leads the whole earth astray,
was hurled
down: he was hurled down to the earth, and his
angels were hurled
down with him.
012:010 Then I heard a loud voice speaking in
Heaven.
It said, “The
salvation and the power and the Kingdom
of our God have now
come, and the sovereignty of His Christ;
for the accuser of
our brethren has been hurled down—he who,
day after day and
night after night, was wont to accuse them
in the presence of
God.
012:011 But they have gained the victory over him because of the
blood
of the Lamb and of
the testimony which they have borne,
and because they
held their lives cheap and did not shrink
even from
death.
012:012 For this reason be glad, O Heaven, and you who
live
in Heaven!
Alas for the earth and the sea! For the Devil
has come down to
you; full of fierce anger, because he knows
that his appointed
time is short.”
012:013 And when the Dragon saw that he was hurled down to the
earth,
he went in pursuit
of the woman who had given birth to
the male
child.
012:014 Then, the two wings of a great eagle were given to the
woman
to enable her to
fly away into the Desert to the place
assigned her, there
to be cared for, for a period of time,
two periods of
time, and half a period of time, beyond the reach
of the
serpent.
012:015 And the serpent poured water from his mouth—a
very river it seemed—
after the woman, in
the hope that she would be carried away
by its
flood.
012:016 But the earth came to the woman’s help: it
opened its
mouth and drank up
the river which the Dragon had poured
from his
mouth.
012:017 This made the Dragon furiously angry with the woman, and he
went
elsewhere to make
war upon her other children—those who keep
God’s
commandments and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.
013:001 And he took up a position upon the sands of the
sea-shore. Then I
saw a Wild Beast
coming up out of the sea, and he had ten
horns and seven
heads. On his horns were ten kingly crowns,
and inscribed on
his heads were names full of blasphemy.
013:002 The Wild Beast which I saw resembled a leopard, and had
feet
like the feet of a
bear, and his mouth was like the mouth
of a lion; and it
was to the Dragon that he owed his power
and his throne and
his wide dominion.
013:003 I saw that one of his heads seemed to have been mortally
wounded;
but his mortal
wound was healed, and the whole world was amazed
and followed
him.
013:004 And they offered worship to the Dragon, because it was to
him
that the Wild Beast
owed his dominion; and they also offered
worship to the Wild
Beast, and said, “Who is there like him?
And who is able to
engage in battle with him?”
013:005 And there was given him a mouth full of boastful
and
blasphemous words;
and liberty of action was granted him
for forty-two
months.
013:006 And he opened his mouth to utter blasphemies against
God,
to speak evil of
His name and of His dwelling-place—
that is to say, of
those who dwell in Heaven.
013:007 And permission was given him to make war upon God’s
people
and conquer them;
and power was given him over every tribe,
people, language
and nation.
013:008 And all the inhabitants of the earth will be found to
be
worshipping
him: every one whose name is not recorded in
the Book of
Life—the Book of the Lamb who has been offered
in sacrifice ever
since the creation of the world.
013:009 Let all who have ears give heed.
013:010 If any one is eager to lead others into captivity, he
must
himself go into
captivity. If any one is bent on killing
with the sword, he
must himself be killed by the sword.
Here is an
opportunity for endurance, and for the exercise
of faith, on the
part of God’s people.
013:011 Then I saw another Wild Beast, coming up out of the
earth.
He had two horns
like those of a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
013:012 And the authority of the first Wild Beast—the
whole of
that
authority—he exercises in his presence, and he
causes
the earth and its
inhabitants to worship the first Wild Beast,
whose mortal wound
had been healed.
013:013 He also works great miracles, so as even to make fire
come
down from Heaven to
earth in the presence of human beings.
013:014 And his power of leading astray the inhabitants of the
earth
is due to the
marvels which he has been permitted to work
in the presence of
the Wild Beast. And he told the inhabitants
of the earth to
erect a statue to the Wild Beast who had
received the
sword-stroke and yet had recovered.
013:015 And power was granted him to give breath to the
statue
of the Wild Beast,
so that the statue of the Wild Beast
could even speak
and cause all who refuse to worship it
to be put to
death.
013:016 And he causes all, small and great, rich and poor, free
men
and slaves, to have
stamped upon them a mark on their right
hands or on their
foreheads,
013:017 in order that no one should be allowed to buy or sell
unless
he had the
mark—either the name of the Wild Beast or the
number
which his name
represents.
013:018 Here is scope for ingenuity. Let people of shrewd
intelligence
calculate the
number of the Wild Beast; for it indicates
a certain man, and
his number is 666.
014:001 Then I looked, and I saw the Lamb standing upon Mount
Zion,
and with Him
144,000 people, having His name and His Father’s
name written on
their foreheads.
014:002 And I heard music from Heaven which resembled the sound of
many
waters and the roar
of loud thunder; and the music which I
heard was like that
of harpists playing upon their harps.
014:003 And they were singing what seemed to be a new song, in
front
of the throne and
in the presence of the four living creatures
and the Elders; and
no one was able to learn that song except
the 144,000 people
who had been redeemed out of the world.
014:004 These are those who had not defiled themselves with
women:
they are as pure as
virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He
goes.
They have been
redeemed from among men, as firstfruits to God
and to the
Lamb.
014:005 And no lie has ever been found upon their
lips:
they are
faultless.
014:006 And I saw another angel flying across the sky, carrying the
Good News
of the Ages to tell
to every nation, tribe, language and people,
among those who
live on the earth.
014:007 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him
glory,
because the time of
His judgment has come; and worship Him
who made sky and
earth, the sea and the water-springs.”
014:008 And another, a second angel, followed, exclaiming,
“Great Babylon
has fallen, has
fallen—she who made all the nations drink
the wine of the
anger provoked by her fornication.”
014:009 And another, a third angel, followed them, exclaiming in
a
loud voice,
“If any one worships the Wild Beast and his statue,
and receives a mark
on his forehead or on his hand,
014:010 he shall drink the wine of God’s anger which stands
ready,
undiluted, in the
cup of His fury, and he shall be tormented
with fire and
sulphur in the presence of the holy angels
and of the
Lamb.
014:011 And the smoke of their torment goes up until the Ages of
the Ages;
and the worshipers
of the Wild Beast and his statue have no
rest day or night,
nor has any one who receives the mark
of his
name.
014:012 Here is an opportunity for endurance on the part of
God’s people,
who carefully keep
His commandments and the faith of Jesus!”
014:013 And I heard a voice speaking from Heaven. It
said,
“Write as
follows: “`Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord
from this time
onward. Yes, says the Spirit, let them
rest from their
sorrowful labours; for what they have done
goes with
them.’”
014:014 Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and sitting
on
the cloud was some
One resembling the Son of Man, having a
wreath of gold upon
His head and in His hand a sharp sickle.
014:015 And another, an angel, came out of the sanctuary, calling
in a loud
voice to Him who
sat on the cloud, and saying, “Use your sickle
and reap the
harvest, for the hour for reaping it has come:
the harvest of the
earth is over-ripe.”
014:016 Then He who sat on the cloud flung His sickle on the
earth,
and the earth had
its harvest reaped.
014:017 And another angel came out from the sanctuary in
Heaven,
and he too carried
a sharp sickle.
014:018 And another angel came out from the altar—he who
had power
over
fire—and he spoke in a loud voice to him who
had
the sharp sickle,
saying, “Use your sharp sickle, and gather
the bunches from
the vine of the earth, for its grapes are
now quite
ripe.”
014:019 And the angel flung his sickle down to the earth, and
reaped
the vine of the
earth and threw the grapes into the great
winepress of
God’s anger.
014:020 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and out of
it
came blood reaching
the horses’ bridles for a distance
of 200
miles.
015:001 Then I saw another marvel in Heaven, great and
wonderful—
there were seven
angels bringing seven plagues.
These are the last
plagues, because in them God’s anger has
found full
expression.
015:002 And I saw what seemed to be a sea of glass mingled with
fire,
and those who had
gained the victory over the Wild Beast
and over his statue
and the number of his name, standing by
the sea of glass
and having harps which belonged to God.
015:003 And they were singing the song of Moses, God’s
servant,
and the song of the
Lamb. Their words were, “Great and
wonderful are Thy
works, O Lord God, the Ruler of all.
Righteous and true
are Thy ways, O King of the nations.
015:004 Who shall not be afraid, O Lord, and glorify Thy
name?
For Thou alone art
holy. All nations shall come and shall
worship Thee,
because the righteousness of all that Thou hast
done has been made
manifest.”
015:005 After this, when the doors of the sanctuary of the
tent
of witness in
Heaven were opened, I looked;
015:006 and there came out of the sanctuary the seven angels who
were
bringing the seven
plagues. The angels were clad in pure,
bright linen, and
had girdles of gold across their breasts.
015:007 And one of the four living creatures gave the seven
angels
seven bowls of
gold, full of the anger of God who lives until
the Ages of the
Ages.
015:008 And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of
God
and from His power;
and no one could enter the sanctuary till
the seven plagues
brought by the seven angels were at an end.
016:001 Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary say to
the
seven angels,
“Go and pour on to the earth the seven bowls
of the anger of
God.”
016:002 So the first angel went away and poured his bowl on to the
earth;
and it brought a
bad and painful sore upon the men who had on
them the mark of
the Wild Beast and worshipped his statue.
016:003 The second angel poured his bowl into the sea, and
it
became blood, like
a dead man’s blood, and every living
creature in the sea
died.
016:004 The third angel poured his bowl into the rivers and
springs
of water, and they
became blood.
016:005 And I heard the angel of the waters say, “Righteous
art Thou,
who art and wast,
the holy One, because Thou hast
thus taken
vengeance.
016:006 For they poured out the blood of Thy people and of the
Prophets,
and in return Thou
hast given them blood to drink.
And this they
deserved.”
016:007 And I heard a voice from the altar say, “Even so, O
Lord God,
the Ruler of all,
true and righteous are Thy judgments.”
016:008 Then the fourth angel poured his bowl on to the sun, and
power
was given to it to
scorch men with fire.
016:009 And the men were severely burned; and yet they spoke
evil
of God who had
power over the plagues, and they did not repent
so as to give Him
glory.
016:010 The fifth angel poured his bowl on to the throne of the
Wild Beast;
and his kingdom
became darkened. People gnawed their tongues
because of the
pain,
016:011 and they spoke evil of the God in Heaven because of their
pains
and their sores,
and did not repent of their misconduct.
016:012 The sixth angel poured his bowl into that great
river,
the Euphrates; and
its stream was dried up in order to clear
the way for the
kings who are to come from the east.
016:013 Then I saw three foul spirits, resembling frogs, issue
from
the mouth of the
Dragon, from the mouth of the Wild Beast,
and from the mouth
of the false Prophet.
016:014 For they are the spirits of demons working
marvels—
spirits that go out
to control the kings of the whole earth,
to assemble them
for the battle which is to take place on
the great day of
God, the Ruler of all.
016:015 ("I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the man who
keeps
awake and guards
his raiment for fear he walk about ill-clad,
and his
uncomeliness become manifest.”)
016:016 And assemble them they did at the place called
in Hebrew
`Har-Magedon.’
016:017 Then the seventh angel poured his bowl into the
air;
and a loud voice
came out of the sanctuary from the throne,
saying,
“Everything is now ready.”
016:018 Flashes of lightning followed, and voices, and peals of
thunder,
and an earthquake
more dreadful than there had ever been
since there was a
man upon the earth—so terrible was it,
and so
great!
016:019 The great city was split into three parts; the cities
of
the nations fell;
and great Babylon came into remembrance
before God, for Him
to make her drink from the wine-cup
of His fierce
anger.
016:020 Every island fled away, and there was not a mountain
anywhere
to be
seen.
016:021 And heavy hail, that seemed to be a talent in
weight,
fell from the sky
upon the people; and they spoke evil of God
on account of the
plague of the hail—because the plague
of it was
exceedingly severe.
017:001 Then one of the seven angels who were carrying the
seven
bowls came and
spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said,
“and I will
show you the doom of the great Harlot who sits
upon many
waters.
017:002 The kings of the earth have committed fornication with
her,
and the inhabitants
of the earth have been made drunk with
the wine of her
fornication.”
017:003 So he carried me away in the Spirit into a desert, and
there
I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet-colored Wild Beast
which was covered
with names of blasphemy and had seven heads
and ten
horns.
017:004 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and
was
brilliantly attired
with gold and jewels and pearls.
She held in her
hand a cup of gold, full of abominations,
and she gave filthy
indications of her fornication.
017:005 And on her forehead was a name written: “I am a
symbol of
great Babylon, the
mother of the harlots and of the abominations
of the
earth.”
017:006 And I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with the
blood
of the saints, and
with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
And when I saw her
I was filled with utter astonishment.
017:007 Then the angel said to me, “Why are you so
astonished?
I will explain to
you the secret meaning of the woman and of
the seven-headed,
ten-horned Wild Beast which carries her.
017:008 “The Wild Beast which you have seen was, and is
not,
and yet is destined
to re-ascend, before long,
out of the
bottomless pit and go his way into perdition.
And the inhabitants
of the earth will be filled with amazement—
all whose names are
not in the Book of Life, having been
recorded there ever
since the creation of the world—
when they see the
Wild Beast: because he was, and is not,
and yet is to
come.
017:009 Here is scope for the exercise of a mind that has
wisdom!
The seven heads are
the seven hills on which the woman sits.
017:010 And they are seven kings: five of them have
fallen,
and the one is
still reigning. The seventh has not yet come,
but when he comes
he must continue for a short time.
017:011 And the Wild Beast which once existed but does not now
exist—
he is an eighth
king and yet is one of the seven and he goes
his way into
perdition.
017:012 “And the ten horns which you have seen are ten kings
who have
not yet come to the
throne, but for a single hour they are
to receive
authority as kings along with the Wild Beast.
017:013 They have one common policy, and they are to give their
power
and authority to
the Wild Beast.
017:014 They will make war upon the Lamb, and the Lamb will
triumph
over them; for He
is Lord of lords and King of kings.
And those who
accompany Him—called, as they are, and chosen,
and
faithful—shall share in the victory.”
017:015 He also said to me, “The waters which you have
seen,
on which the Harlot
sits, are peoples and multitudes,
nations and
languages.
017:016 And the ten horns that you have seen—and the
Wild Beast—
these will hate the
Harlot, and they will cause her to be laid
waste and will
strip her bare. They will eat her flesh,
and burn her up
with fire.
017:017 For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His
purpose,
and to carry out a
common purpose and to give their kingdom
to the Wild Beast
until God’s words have come to pass.
017:018 And the woman whom you have seen is the great city which
has
kingly power over
the kings of the earth.”
018:001 After these things I saw another angel coming down from
Heaven,
armed with great
power. The earth shone with his splendor,
018:002 and with a mighty voice he cried out, saying, “Great
Babylon
has fallen, has
fallen, and has become a home for demons
and a stronghold
for every kind of foul spirit and for every
kind of foul and
hateful bird.
018:003 For all the nations have drunk the wine of the anger
provoked
by her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed
fornication with
her, and the merchants of the earth have grown
rich through her
excessive luxury.”
018:004 Then I heard another voice from Heaven, which said,
“Come out of her,
My people, that you
may not become partakers in her sins,
nor receive a share
of her plagues.
018:005 For her sins are piled up to the sky, and God has
called
to mind her
unrighteous deeds.
018:006 Give back to her as she has given; repay her in
accordance
with her doings,
twice as much; in the bowl that she has mixed,
mix twice as much
for her.
018:007 She has freely glorified herself and revelled in
luxury;
equally freely
administer torment to her, and woe.
For in her heart
she boasts, saying, `I sit enthroned as Queen:
no widow am
I: I shall never know sorrow.’
018:008 “For this reason calamities shall come thick upon her
on a single day—
death and sorrow
and famine—and she shall be burned to the
ground.
For strong is the
Lord God who has judged her.
018:009 The kings of the earth who have committed fornication with
her,
and have revelled
in luxury, shall weep aloud and lament
over her when they
see the smoke of her burning,
018:010 while they stand afar off because of their terror at
her
heavy punishment,
and say, `Alas, alas, thou great city,
O Babylon, the
mighty city! For in one short hour thy
doom has
come!’
018:011 And the merchants of the earth weep aloud and lament over
her,
because now there
is no sale for their cargoes—
018:012 cargoes of gold and silver, of jewels and pearls, of fine
linen,
purple and silk,
and of scarlet stuff; all kinds of rare woods,
and all kinds of
goods in ivory and in very costly wood,
in bronze, steel
and marble.
018:013 Also cinnamon and amomum; odors to burn as incense or for
perfume;
frankincense, wine,
oil; fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep;
horses and
carriages and slaves; and the lives of men.
018:014 The dainties that thy soul longed for are gone from
thee,
and all thine
elegance and splendor have perished, and never
again shall they be
found.
018:015 Those who traded in these things, who grew wealthy through
her,
will stand afar
off, struck with terror at her punishment,
018:016 weeping aloud and sorrowing, and saying, `Alas, alas, for
this
great city, which
was brilliantly arrayed in fine linen,
and purple and
scarlet stuff, and beautified with gold,
jewels and
pearls;
018:017 because in one short hour all this great wealth has been
laid waste!’
And every
shipmaster and every passenger by sea and the crews
and all who ply
their trade on the sea,
018:018 stood afar off, and cried aloud when they saw the smoke
of
her burning.
And they said, `What city is like this great city?’
018:019 And they threw dust upon their heads, and cried
out,
weeping aloud and
sorrowing. `Alas, alas,’ they said,
`for this great
city, in which, through her vast wealth,
the owners of all
the ships on the sea have grown rich;
because in one
short hour she has been laid waste!’
018:020 Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you saints and Apostles and
Prophets;
for God has taken
vengeance upon her because of you.”
018:021 Then a single angel of great strength took a stone
which
resembled a huge
millstone, and hurled it into the sea,
saying, “So
shall Babylon, that great city, be violently
hurled down and
never again be found.
018:022 No harp or song, no flute or trumpet, shall ever again be
heard
in thee; no
craftsman of any kind shall ever again be found
in thee; nor shall
the grinding of the mill ever again be
heard in
thee.
018:023 Never again shall the light of a lamp shine in thee, and
never again
shall the voice of
a bridegroom or of a bride be heard in thee.
For thy merchants
were the great men of the earth,
and with the magic
which thou didst practise all nations
were led
astray.
018:024 And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of
God’s people
and of all who had
been put to death on the earth.”
019:001 After this I seemed to hear the far-echoing voices of a
great
multitude in
Heaven, who said, “Hallelujah! The salvation
and the glory and
the power belong to our God.
019:002 True and just are His judgments, because He has judged the
great
Harlot who was
corrupting the whole earth with her fornication,
and He has taken
vengeance for the blood of His bondservants
which her hands
have shed.”
019:003 And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! For
her smoke
ascends until the
Ages of the Ages.”
019:004 And the twenty-four Elders and the four living
creatures
fell down and
worshipped God who sits upon the throne.
“Even
so,” they said; “Hallelujah!”
019:005 And from the throne there came a voice which said,
“Praise our God,
all you His
bondservants—you who fear Him, both the small
and the
great.”
019:006 And I seemed to hear the voices of a great
multitude
and the sound of
many waters and of loud peals of thunder,
which said,
“Hallelujah! Because the Lord our God, the
Ruler
of all, has become
King.
019:007 Let us rejoice and triumph and give Him the glory; for the
time
for the marriage of
the Lamb has come, and His Bride has
made herself
ready.”
019:008 And she was permitted to array herself in fine
linen,
shining and
spotless; the fine linen being the righteous
actions of
God’s people.
019:009 And he said to me, “Write as follows: `Blessed
are those who
receive an
invitation to the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb.’”
And he added, still
addressing me, “These are truly
the words of
God.”
019:010 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he
exclaimed,
“Oh, do not
do that. I am a fellow bondservant of yours
and a fellow
bondservant of your brethren who have borne
testimony to
Jesus. Worship God.” Testimony to Jesus
is
the spirit which
underlies Prophecy.
019:011 Then I saw a door open in Heaven, and a white horse
appeared.
Its rider was named
“Faithful and True”—being One who
in
righteousness acts
as Judge, and makes war.
019:012 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were
many
kingly crowns; and
He has a name written upon Him which no
one but He Himself
knows.
019:013 The outer garment in which He is clad has been dipped in
blood
and His name is THE
WORD OF GOD.
019:014 The armies in Heaven followed Him—mounted on
white horses
and clothed in fine
linen, white and spotless.
019:015 From His mouth there comes a sharp sword with which He
will
smite the nations;
and He will Himself be their Shepherd,
ruling them with a
scepter of iron; and it is His work to tread
the winepress of
the fierce anger of God, the Ruler of all.
019:016 And on His outer garment and on His thigh He has a name
written,
KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.
019:017 And I saw a single angel standing in the full light of the
sun,
who cried in a loud
voice to all the birds that flew across
the sky,
“Come and be present at God’s great supper,
019:018 that you may feast on the flesh of kings and the
flesh
of generals and the
flesh of mighty men, on the flesh
of horses and their
riders, and on the flesh of all mankind,
whether they are
free men or slaves, great men or small.”
019:019 And I saw the Wild Beast, and the kings of the
earth,
and their armies,
all assembled to make war, once for all,
against the Rider
upon the horse and against His army.
And the Wild Beast
was captured, and with him the false Prophet
019:020 who had done the miracles in his presence with which he had
led
astray those who
had received the mark of the Wild Beast,
and those who
worshipped his statue. Both of them were thrown
alive into the Lake
of fire that was all ablaze with sulphur.
019:021 But the rest were killed with the sword that came from the
mouth
of the Rider on the
horse. And the birds all fed ravenously
upon their
flesh.
020:001 Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the
key
of the bottomless
pit, and upon his arm he carried a great chain.
020:002 He laid hold of the Dragon—the ancient
serpent—who is the Devil
and the Adversary,
and bound him for a thousand years,
and hurled him into
the bottomless pit.
020:003 He closed the entrance and put a seal upon him in
order
that he might be
unable to lead the nations astray
any more until the
thousand years were at an end.
Afterwards he is to
be set at liberty for a short time.
020:004 And I saw thrones, and some who were seated on them, to
whom
judgment was
entrusted. And I saw the souls of those who had
been beheaded on
account of the testimony that they had borne
to Jesus and on
account of God’s Message, and also the souls
of those who had
not worshipped the Wild Beast or his statue,
nor received his
mark on their foreheads or on their hands;
and they came to
Life and were kings with Christ for
a thousand
years.
020:005 No one else who was dead rose to Life until the thousand
years
were at an
end. This is the First Resurrection.
020:006 Blessed and holy are those who share in the First
Resurrection.
The Second Death
has no power over them, but they shall be
priests to God and
to Christ, and shall be kings with Christ
for the thousand
years.
020:007 But when the thousand years are at an end, the
Adversary
will be released
from his imprisonment,
020:008 and will go out to lead astray the nations in all the
four
corners of the
earth, Gog and Magog, and assemble them for war,
and they are like
the sands on the seashore in number.
020:009 And they went up over the whole breadth of the earth
and
surrounded the
encampment of God’s people and the beloved
city.
But fire came down
from Heaven and consumed them;
020:010 and the Devil, who had been leading them astray, was
thrown
into the Lake of
fire and sulphur where the Wild Beast and
the false Prophet
were, and day and night they will suffer
torture until the
Ages of the Ages.
020:011 Then I saw a great white throne and One who was seated on
it,
from whose presence
earth and sky fled away, and no place
was found for
them.
020:012 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing
in
front of the
throne. And books were opened; and so was
another
book—namely, the Book of Life; and the dead
were
judged by the
things recorded in the books in accordance
with what their
conduct had been.
020:013 Then the sea yielded up the dead who were in it, Death and
Hades
yielded up the dead
who were in them, and each man was judged
in accordance with
what his conduct had been.
020:014 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of
fire;
this is the Second
Death—the Lake of fire.
020:015 And if any one’s name was not found recorded in the
Book
of Life he was
thrown into the Lake of fire.
021:001 And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first
Heaven
and the first earth
were gone, and the sea no longer exists.
021:002 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down
out
of Heaven from God
and made ready like a bride attired
to meet her
husband.
021:003 And I heard a loud voice, which came from the throne,
say,
“God’s
dwelling place is among men and He will dwell among
them and they shall
be His peoples. Yes, God Himself will
be among
them.
021:004 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death shall
be no more;
nor sorrow, nor
wail of woe, nor pain; for the first things
have passed
away.”
021:005 Then He who was seated on the throne said, “I am
re-creating
all
things.” And He added, “Write down these
words,
for they are
trustworthy and true.”
021:006 He also said, “They have now been
fulfilled.
I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To those who are
thirsty I will give the privilege of drinking
from the well of
the Water of Life without payment.
021:007 All this shall be the heritage of him who overcomes, and
I
will be his God and
he shall be one of My sons.
021:008 But as for cowards and the unfaithful, and the
polluted,
and murderers,
fornicators, and those who practise magic
or worship idols,
and all liars—the portion allotted to them
shall be in the
Lake which burns with fire and sulphur.
This is the Second
Death.”
021:009 Then there came one of the seven angels who were
carrying
the seven bowls
full of the seven last plagues.
“Come with
me,” he said, “and I will show you the Bride,
the Lamb’s
wife.”
021:010 So in the Spirit he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty
mountain,
and showed me the
holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out
of Heaven from
God,
021:011 and bringing with it the glory of God. It shone with
a radiance
like that of a very
precious stone—such as a jasper,
bright and
transparent.
021:012 It has a wall, massive and high, with twelve large
gates,
and in charge of
the gates were twelve angels. And overhead,
above the gates,
names were inscribed which are those of
the twelve tribes
of the descendants of Israel.
021:013 There were three gates on the east, three on the
north,
three on the south,
and three on the west.
021:014 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and
engraved
upon them were
twelve names—the names of the twelve Apostles
of the
Lamb.
021:015 Now he who was speaking to me had a measuring-rod of
gold,
with which to
measure the city and its gates and its wall.
021:016 The plan of the city is a square, the length being the
same
as the breadth; and
he measured the city furlong by furlong,
with his measuring
rod—it is twelve hundred miles long,
and the length and
the breadth and the height of it are equal.
021:017 And he measured the wall of it—a wall of a
hundred and
forty-four cubits,
according to human measure, which was
also that of the
angel.
021:018 The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city
itself
was made of gold,
resembling transparent glass.
021:019 As for the foundation-stones of the city wall, which were
beautified
with various kinds
of precious stones, the first was jasper,
the second
sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth sardius,
021:020 the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth
topaz,
the tenth
chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
021:021 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each of them
consisting
of a single
pearl. And the main street of the city was made
of pure gold,
resembling transparent glass.
021:022 I saw no sanctuary in the city, for the Lord God, the
Ruler
of all, is its
Sanctuary, and so is the Lamb.
021:023 Nor has the city any need of the sun or of the moon, to
give
it light; for the
glory of God has shone upon it and its lamp
is the
Lamb.
021:024 The nations will live their lives by its light; and the
kings
of the earth are to
bring their glory into it.
021:025 And in the daytime (for there will be no night
there)
the gates will
never be closed;
021:026 and the glory and honor of the nations shall be brought
into it.
021:027 And no unclean thing shall ever enter it, nor any one who
is
guilty of base
conduct or tells lies, but only they whose
names stand
recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
022:001 Then he showed me the river of the Water of Life, bright as
crystal,
issuing from the
throne of God and of the Lamb.
022:002 On either side of the river, midway between it and the
main
street of the city,
was the Tree of Life. It produced
twelve kinds of
fruit, yielding a fresh crop month by month,
and the leaves of
the tree served as medicine for the nations.
022:003 “In future there will be no curse,” he said,
“but the throne
of God and of the
Lamb will be in that city. And His servants
will render Him
holy service and will see His face,
022:004 and His name will be on their foreheads.
022:005 And there will be no night there; and they have no need
of
lamplight or
sunlight, for the Lord God will shine upon them,
and they will be
kings until the Ages of the Ages.”
022:006 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and
true;
and the Lord, the
God of the spirits of the Prophets,
sent His angel to
make known to His servants the things
which must soon
happen.
022:007 `I am coming quickly.’ Blessed is he who is
mindful of
the predictions
contained in this book.”
022:008 I John heard and saw these things; and when I had heard and
seen them,
I fell at the feet
of the angel who was showing me them—
to worship
him.
022:009 But he said to me, “Oh, do not do that. I am a
fellow
bondservant of
yours, and a fellow bondservant of your brethren
the Prophets and of
those who are mindful of the teachings
of this book.
Worship God.”
022:010 “Make no secret,” he added, “of the
meaning of the predictions
contained in this
book; for the time for their fulfillment
is now close at
hand.
022:011 Let the dishonest man act dishonestly still; let the
filthy
make himself filthy
still; let the righteous practise
righteousness
still; and let the holy be made holy still.”
022:012 “I am coming quickly; and My reward is with Me, that
I may requite
every man in
accordance with what his conduct has been.
022:013 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the
Last,
the Beginning and
the End.
022:014 Blessed are those who wash their robes clean, that they
may
have a right to the
Tree of Life, and may go through the gates
into the
city.
022:015 The unclean are shut out, and so are all who practise
magic,
all fornicators,
all murderers, and those who worship idols,
and every one who
loves falsehood and tells lies.
022:016 “I Jesus have sent My angel for him solemnly to
declare
these things to you
among the Churches. I am the Root
and the offspring
of David, the bright Morning Star.
022:017 The Spirit and the Bride say, `Come;’ and whoever
hears,
let him say,
`Come;’ and let those who are thirsty come.
Whoever will, let
him take the Water of Life, without payment.
022:018 “I solemnly declare to every one who hears the words
of the prophecy
contained in this
book, that if any one adds to those words,
God will add to him
the plagues spoken of in this book;
022:019 and that if any one takes away from the words of the
book
of this prophecy,
God will take from him his share in the Tree
of Life and in the
holy city—the things described in this book.
022:020 “He who solemnly declares all this says, “`Yes,
I am
coming
quickly.’” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
022:021 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.
