Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22 (English Standard Version)

Malachi 1

 ¹The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.^[a]

The LORD’s Love for Israel

 ² "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob ³but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." ⁴If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'" ⁵ Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"

The Priests’ Polluted Offerings

 ⁶ "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How have we despised your name?' ⁷ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, 'How have we polluted you?' By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised. ⁸ When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. ⁹And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. ¹⁰ Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. ¹¹For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be^[b] great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. ¹²But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. ¹³But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. ¹⁴Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Malachi 2

The LORD Rebukes the Priests

 ¹"And now, O priests, this command is for you. ² If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. ³Behold, I will rebuke your offspring,^[c] and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.^{[d] 4}So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. ⁵My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. ⁶ True instruction^[e] was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. ⁷For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people^[f] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. ⁸But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, ⁹and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction."

Judah Profaned the Covenant

 ¹⁰Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹²May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant^[g] of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

 ¹³And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. ¹⁴ But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?^[h] And what was the one God^[i] seeking?^[j] Godly offspring. So guard yourselves^[k] in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶"For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,^[l] says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers^[m] his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless."

The Messenger of the LORD

 ¹⁷ You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

Malachi 3

 ¹ "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. ²But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. ³He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.^{[n] 4} Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

 ⁵"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Robbing God

 ⁶"For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ⁷ From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' ⁸Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹I will rebuke the devourer^[o] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. ¹²Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

 ¹³ "Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, 'How have we spoken against you?' ¹⁴You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? ¹⁵And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.'"

The Book of Remembrance

 ¹⁶Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. ¹⁷"They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. ¹⁸Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Malachi 4

The Great Day of the LORD

 ^1[p] "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ²But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. ³And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

 ⁴ "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules^[q] that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

 ⁵ "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. ⁶And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."^[r]

Revelation 22

The River of Life

 ¹Then the angel^[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life^[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants^[c] will worship him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Jesus Is Coming

 ⁶And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place."

 ⁷"And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

 ⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹ but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant^[d] with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."

 ¹⁰And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy."

 ¹²"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

 ¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes,^[e] so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

 ¹⁶ "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."

 ¹⁷The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

 ¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

 ²⁰He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

 ²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.^[f] Amen.

Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20 (English Standard Version)

Zechariah 9

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

 ¹The burden of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach
   and Damascus is its resting place.
For the LORD has an eye on mankind
   and on all the tribes of Israel,^[a]
2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
    Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
³Tyre has built herself a rampart
   and heaped up silver like dust,
   and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
⁴But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
   and strike down her power on the sea,
   and she shall be devoured by fire.

 ⁵ Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
   Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
   Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
   Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
⁶ a mixed people^[b] shall dwell in Ashdod,
   and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
⁷I will take away its blood from its mouth,
   and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
   it shall be like a clan in Judah,
   and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
⁸Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
    so that none shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again march over them,
    for now I see with my own eyes.

The Coming King of Zion

 ⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
   Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
   righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
   on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
   and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
   and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
   and from the River to the ends of the earth.
¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
   today I declare that I will restore to you double.
¹³For I have bent Judah as my bow;
   I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
   against your sons, O Greece,
   and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

The LORD Will Save His People

 ¹⁴Then the LORD will appear over them,
   and his arrow will go forth like lightning;
the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet
   and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
¹⁵The LORD of hosts will protect them,
   and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
   and be full like a bowl,
   drenched like the corners of the altar.

 ¹⁶On that day the LORD their God will save them,
   as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
   they shall shine on his land.
¹⁷ For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
    Grain shall make the young men flourish,
   and new wine the young women.

Zechariah 10

The Restoration for Judah and Israel

 ¹Ask rain from the LORD
   in the season of the spring rain,
from the LORD who makes the storm clouds,
   and he will give them showers of rain,
   to everyone the vegetation in the field.
²For the household gods utter nonsense,
   and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
   and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
   they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

 ³ "My anger is hot against the shepherds,
   and I will punish the leaders;^[c]
for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
   and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
⁴From him shall come the cornerstone,
   from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
   from him every ruler— all of them together.
⁵They shall be like mighty men in battle,
    trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the LORD is with them,
   and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.

 ⁶ "I will strengthen the house of Judah,
   and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
   and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
   for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.
⁷Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
   and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
   their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD.

 ⁸ "I will whistle for them and gather them in,
   for I have redeemed them,
   and they shall be as many as they were before.
⁹ Though I scattered them among the nations,
   yet in far countries they shall remember me,
   and with their children they shall live and return.
¹⁰ I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
   and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    till there is no room for them.
¹¹ He shall pass through the sea of troubles
   and strike down the waves of the sea,
    and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
   and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
¹² I will make them strong in the LORD,
   and they shall walk in his name,"

         declares the LORD.

Zechariah 11

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

 ¹Open your doors, O Lebanon,
   that the fire may devour your cedars!
²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
   for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
   for the thick forest has been felled!
³The sound of the wail of the shepherds,
   for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of the lions,
   for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

 ⁴Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ⁵ Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,' and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand."

 ⁷ So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. ⁸In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another." ¹⁰And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. ¹²Then I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. ¹³Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"— the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter. ¹⁴Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

 ¹⁵Then the LORD said to me, "Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
 ¹⁷ "Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
   and his right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
   his right eye utterly blinded!"

Zechariah 12

The LORD Will Give Salvation

 ¹ The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: ²"Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. ³ On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. ⁴ On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.'

 ⁶ "On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

 ⁷"And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. ⁹ And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

 ¹⁰"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. ¹¹ On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹²The land shall mourn, each family^[d] by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Revelation 20

The Thousand Years

 ¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit^[a] and a great chain. ²And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, ³and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

 ⁴Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

The Defeat of Satan

 ⁷And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. ⁹And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven^[b] and consumed them, ¹⁰and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Judgment Before the Great White Throne

 ¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Zechariah 1-4; Revelation 18 (English Standard Version)

Zechariah 1

A Call to Return to the LORD

 ¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, ² "The LORD was very angry with your fathers. ³Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. ⁴ Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD. ⁵Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us."

A Vision of a Horseman

 ⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, ⁸"I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. ⁹Then I said, 'What are these, my lord?' The angel who talked with me said to me, 'I will show you what they are.' ¹⁰So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, 'These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.' ¹¹And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, 'We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.' ¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, 'O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?' ¹³And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. ¹⁴So the angel who talked with me said to me, 'Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. ¹⁵ And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. ¹⁶Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. ¹⁷Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'"

A Vision of Horns and Craftsmen

 ^18[a] And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns! ¹⁹And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" And he said to me, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." ²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. ²¹And I said, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."

Zechariah 2

A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line

 ^1[b] And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! ²Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." ³And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him ⁴and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. ⁵And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'"

 ⁶Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. ⁷ Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. ⁸For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me^[c] to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: ⁹"Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. ¹⁰ Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. ¹¹ And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. ¹² And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."

 ¹³Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Zechariah 3

A Vision of Joshua the High Priest

 ¹Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan^[d] standing at his right hand to accuse him. ²And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand^[e] plucked from the fire?" ³Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. ⁴And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." ⁵And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by.

 ⁶And the angel of the LORD solemnly assured Joshua, ⁷"Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. ⁸Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. ⁹For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes,^[f] I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. ¹⁰In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree."

Zechariah 4

A Vision of a Golden Lampstand

 ¹And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. ²And he said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. ³And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." ⁴And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." ⁶Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. ⁷Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"

 ⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁹ "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰ For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

    "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth." ¹¹Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" ¹²And a second time I answered and said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil^[g] is poured out?" ¹³He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." ¹⁴Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones^[h] who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

Revelation 18

The Fall of Babylon

 ¹After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. ²And he called out with a mighty voice,

    "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
   She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
   a haunt for every unclean bird,
   a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
³For all nations have drunk^[a]
    the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
   and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living."

 ⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

    "Come out of her, my people,
   lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues; ⁵for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
   and God has remembered her iniquities.
⁶ Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
   and repay her double for her deeds;
   mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
⁷ As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
   so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
    'I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
   and mourning I shall never see.'
⁸For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
   death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
   for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her."

 ⁹And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. ¹⁰ They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

   "Alas! Alas! You great city,
   you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come."

 ¹¹And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, ¹²cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, ¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.^[b]
 14"The fruit for which your soul longed
   has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
   are lost to you,
   never to be found again!"

 ¹⁵ The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
 ¹⁶"Alas, alas, for the great city
    that was clothed in fine linen,

      in purple and scarlet,
   adorned with gold,

      with jewels, and with pearls!
¹⁷For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste."

   And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off ¹⁸and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,

    "What city was like the great city?"

 ¹⁹And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

   "Alas, alas, for the great city
    where all who had ships at sea
   grew rich by her wealth!
For in a single hour she has been laid waste. ²⁰ Rejoice over her, O heaven,
   and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!"

 ²¹Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

   "So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
   and will be found no more;
²²and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
   will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
   will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
   will be heard in you no more,
²³and the light of a lamp
   will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
   will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
   and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
²⁴And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
   and of all who have been slain on earth."