God’s Covenant with David

⁸ Now then, this is what you shall say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “^(A)I Myself took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, ^(B)to be leader over My people Israel. ⁹ And ^(C)I have been with you wherever you have gone, and ^(D)have eliminated all your enemies from you; I will also make a great name for you, like the names of the great men who ^[a]are on the earth. ¹⁰ And I will establish a place for My people Israel, and ^(E)will plant them, so that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, ^(F)nor will ^[b]malicious people oppress them anymore as previously, ¹¹ even ^(G)from the day that I appointed judges over My people Israel; and ^(H)I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that ^(I)the Lord will make a house for you. ^12 (J)When your days are finished and you ^[c](K)lie down with your fathers, ^(L)I will raise up your ^[d]descendant after you, who will come from ^[e]you, and I will establish his kingdom. ^13 (M)He shall build a house for My name, and ^(N)I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ^14 (O)I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; ^(P)when he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and with strokes of sons of mankind, ¹⁵ but My favor shall not depart from him, ^(Q)as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from you. ^16 (R)Your house and your kingdom shall endure before ^[f]Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all of this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

Birth and Reign of the Prince of Peace

9 ^[a]But there will be no more ^(A)gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He ^(B)treated the ^(C)land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the ^[b]Gentiles.

Jesus’ Birth Foretold

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel ^(A)Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named ^(B)Nazareth, ²⁷ to ^(C)a virgin ^[a]betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, ^(D)of the ^[b]descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was ^[c]Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord ^[d]is with you.” ²⁹ But she ^(E)was very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “^(F)Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you ^(G)shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of ^(H)the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him ^(I)the throne of His father David; ^33 (J)and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, ^(K)and His kingdom will have no end.”

The Coming of Christ

¹¹ And I saw ^(A)heaven opened, and behold, a ^(B)white horse, and He who sat on it is called ^(C)Faithful and True, and in ^(D)righteousness He judges and wages war. ¹² His ^(E)eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many ^(F)crowns; and He has a ^(G)name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. ¹³ He is clothed with a ^(H)robe dipped in blood, and His name is called ^(I)The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in ^(J)fine linen, ^(K)white and clean, were following Him on white horses. ^15 (L)From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that ^(M)with it He may strike down the nations, and He will ^[a](N)rule them with a rod of iron; and ^(O)He treads the ^[b]wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. ¹⁶ And on His robe and on His thigh He has ^(P)a name written: “^(Q)KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

^27 (A)For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the ^(B)coming of the ^(C)Son of Man ^[a]be. ^28 (D)Wherever the corpse is, there the ^[b]vultures will gather.

The Glorious Return

²⁹ “But immediately after the ^(E)tribulation of those days ^(F)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^(G)the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then ^(H)the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^(I)the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And ^(J)He will send forth His angels with ^(K)a great trumpet blast, and they will gather together His ^[c](L)elect from ^(M)the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

⁴ On that day His feet will ^(A)stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be ^(B)split ^[a]in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south.

The Judgment

³¹ “But when ^(A)the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then ^(B)He will sit on His glorious throne.

God Will Be King over All

⁹ And the Lord will be ^(A)King over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be the only ^(B)one, and His name the only one.

Satan Bound

20 Then I saw ^(A)an angel coming down from heaven, holding the ^(B)key of the abyss and a great chain ^[a]in his hand. ² And he took hold of the ^(C)dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and ^(D)bound him for a thousand years; ³ and he threw him into the ^(E)abyss and shut it and ^(F)sealed it over him, so that he would ^(G)not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

⁴ Then I saw ^(H)thrones, and ^(I)they sat on them, and ^(J)judgment was given to them. And I saw ^(K)the souls of those who had been beheaded because of ^[b]their ^(L)testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not ^(M)worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the ^(N)mark on their foreheads and on their hands; and they ^(O)came to life and ^(P)reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵ The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. ^(Q)This is the first resurrection. ^6 (R)Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the ^(S)second death has no power, but they will be ^(T)priests of God and of Christ, and will ^(U)reign with Him for a thousand years.