Judgment on the Whole Earth
1 Behold, cthe Lord will empty the earth1 and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
2 dAnd it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
eas with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
hfor the Lord has spoken this word.
4 iThe earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
5 The earth lies jdefiled
under its inhabitants;
for kthey have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore la curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants msuffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
7 nThe wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
9 No more do they drink wine pwith singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 qThe wasted city is broken down;
revery house is shut up so that none can enter.
11 sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
tall joy has grown dark;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city;
the gates are battered into ruins.
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the nations,
uas when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
14 They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.2
15 vTherefore in the east3 give glory to the Lord;
in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
of glory to xthe Righteous One.
But I say, “I waste away,
I waste away. Woe is me!
For ythe traitors have betrayed,
with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
17 zTerror and the pit and the snare4
are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18 zHe who flees at the sound of the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
For athe windows of heaven are opened,
and bthe foundations of the earth tremble.
19 The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth cstaggers like a drunken man;
it sways like a hut;
dits transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.
21 On that day the Lord will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.
22 fThey will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days gthey will be punished.
23 hThen the moon will be confounded
and the sun ashamed,
for ithe Lord of hosts reigns
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.
The First Beast
1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, owith ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and pblasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was qlike a leopard; its feet were like ra bear’s, and its mouth was like sa lion’s mouth. And to it tthe dragon gave his power and uhis throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and vthe whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, w“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
5 And the beast was given xa mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for yforty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,1 that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed zto make war on the saints and to conquer them.2 And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all awho dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in bthe book of life of cthe Lamb dwho was slain. 9 eIf anyone has an ear, let him hear:
10 fIf anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
gif anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.
hHere is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
The Second Beast
11 Then iI saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,3 and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, jwhose mortal wound was healed. 13 kIt performs great signs, even lmaking fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of4 the beast mit deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast nthat was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not oworship the image of the beast pto be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,5 qto be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, rthe name of the beast or sthe number of its name. 18 tThis calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number uof a man, and his number is 666.6
