Monthly Archives: May 2010

  The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath Revelation 16:16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” ² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. ³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. ⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; ⁶     for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” ⁷ And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.” ⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. ¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. ¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. ¹³ Then I saw three evil^a spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. ¹⁵ “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” ¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. ¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. The Woman on the Beast Revelation 17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. ² With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” ³ Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. ⁵ This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. ⁶ I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

  Psalm 147 ¹¹     the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. ¹²     Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, ¹³     for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. ¹⁴     He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. ¹⁵     He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. ¹⁶     He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. ¹⁷     He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?

Zephaniah 1:1  The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah: Warning of Coming Destruction ²     “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. ³     “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble^a when I cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. Against Judah ⁴     “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests— ⁵     those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molech,^a ⁶     those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him. ⁷     Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited. ⁸     On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice I will punish the princes and the king’s sons and all those clad in foreign clothes. ⁹     On that day I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold,^b who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit. ¹⁰     “On that day,” declares the Lord, “a cry will go up from the Fish Gate, wailing from the New Quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. ¹¹     Wail, you who live in the market district^c; all your merchants will be wiped out, all who trade with^d silver will be ruined. ¹²     At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.’ ¹³     Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine. The Great Day of the Lord ¹⁴     “The great day of the Lord is near— near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. ¹⁵     That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, ¹⁶     a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers. ¹⁷     I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. ¹⁸     Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.” Zephaniah 2:1 Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, ²     before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you. ³     Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger. Against Philistia ⁴     Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. ⁵     Woe to you who live by the sea, O Kerethite people; the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. “I will destroy you, and none will be left.” ⁶     The land by the sea, where the Kerethites^a dwell, will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens. ⁷     It will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The Lord their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes.^b Against Moab and Ammon ⁸     “I have heard the insults of Moab and the taunts of the Ammonites, who insulted my people and made threats against their land. ⁹     Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah— a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the survivors of my nation will inherit their land.” ¹⁰     This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the Lord Almighty. ¹¹     The Lord will be awesome to them when he destroys all the gods of the land. The nations on every shore will worship him, every one in its own land. Against Cush ¹²     “You too, O Cushites,^a will be slain by my sword.” Against Assyria ¹³     He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert. ¹⁴     Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns. Their calls will echo through the windows, rubble will be in the doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed. ¹⁵     This is the carefree city that lived in safety. She said to herself, “I am, and there is none besides me.” What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists. The Future of Jerusalem Zephaniah 3:1  Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled! ²     She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord, she does not draw near to her God. ³     Her officials are roaring lions, her rulers are evening wolves, who leave nothing for the morning. ⁴     Her prophets are arrogant; they are treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary and do violence to the law. ⁵     The Lord within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame. ⁶     “I have cut off nations; their strongholds are demolished. I have left their streets deserted, with no one passing through. Their cities are destroyed; no one will be left—no one at all. ⁷     I said to the city, ‘Surely you will fear me and accept correction!’ Then her dwelling would not be cut off, nor all my punishments come upon her. But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did. ⁸     Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I will stand up to testify.^a I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. ⁹     “Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder. ¹⁰     From beyond the rivers of Cush^b my worshipers, my scattered people, will bring me offerings. ¹¹     On that day you will not be put to shame for all the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from this city those who rejoice in their pride. Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. ¹²     But I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the Lord. ¹³     The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will speak no lies, nor will deceit be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.” ¹⁴     Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵     The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. ¹⁶     On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. ¹⁷     The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” ¹⁸     “The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you; they are a burden and a reproach to you.^c ¹⁹     At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame. ²⁰     At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes^d before your very eyes,” says the Lord.

  Sayings of King Lemuel Proverbs 31:1 The sayings of King Lemuel—an oracle^a his mother taught him: ²     “O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows,^b ³     do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. ⁴     “It is not for kings, O Lemuel— not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, ⁵     lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. ⁶     Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; ⁷     let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. ⁸     “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. ⁹     Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character ¹⁰     ^a A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. ¹¹     Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. ¹²     She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. ¹³     She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. ¹⁴     She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. ¹⁵     She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. ¹⁶     She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. ¹⁷     She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. ¹⁸     She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. ¹⁹     In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. ²⁰     She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. ²¹     When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. ²²     She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. ²³     Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. ²⁴     She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. ²⁵     She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. ²⁶     She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. ²⁷     She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. ²⁸     Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ²⁹     “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” ³⁰     Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. ³¹     Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

  The Three Angels Revelation 14:⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” ⁸ A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” ⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, ¹⁰ he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. ¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” The Harvest of the Earth ¹⁴ I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man”^a with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” ¹⁶ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. ¹⁷ Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. ²⁰ They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.^b Seven Angels With Seven Plagues Revelation 15:1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. ⁴     Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” ⁵ After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. ⁶ Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. ⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

  Psalm 147:5  Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. ⁶     The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. ⁷     Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. ⁸     He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. ⁹     He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. ¹⁰     His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man;