All Israel Invited to the Passover

30 Now Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to ^[a]celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ² For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided ^(A)to celebrate the Passover in the second month, ³ since they could not celebrate it ^(B)at that time, because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient numbers, nor had the people been gathered to Jerusalem. ⁴ So the ^[b]decision was right in the sight of the king and all the assembly. ⁵ So they established a decree to circulate a ^[c]proclamation throughout Israel ^(C)from Beersheba to Dan, that they are to come to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem. For they had not celebrated it in great numbers as was written. ^6 (D)The ^[d]couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his princes, even according to the command of the king, saying, “Sons of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped and are left from ^(E)the ^[e]hand of the kings of Assyria. ^7 (F)Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were untrue to the Lord God of their fathers, so that ^(G)He made them an object of horror, just as you see. ⁸ Now do not ^(H)stiffen your neck like your fathers, but ^[f]yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, ^(I)that His burning anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For ^(J)if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find compassion in the presence of those who led them captive, and will return to this land. ^(K)For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

¹⁰ So the ^[g]couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but ^(L)they laughed at them with scorn and mocked them. ¹¹ Nevertheless, ^(M)some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The ^(N)hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.

Passover Reinstituted

¹³ Now many people were gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^(O)in the second month, a very large assembly. ¹⁴ They got up and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem; they also ^(P)removed all the incense altars and ^(Q)threw them into the brook Kidron. ¹⁵ Then ^(R)they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth of the second month. And ^(S)the priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. ^16 (T)They stood at their stations following their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, ^(U)the Levites were in charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord. ¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, ^(V)many from Ephraim and Manasseh, and Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, ^(W)yet they ate the Passover ^(X)contrary to what was written. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon ^19 (Y)everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ So the Lord heard Hezekiah and ^(Z)healed the people. ²¹ The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem ^(AA)celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests were praising the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord. ²² Then Hezekiah ^(AB)spoke ^[h]encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good insight in the things of the Lord. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and ^(AC)giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly ^(AD)decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy. ²⁴ For ^(AE)Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the princes had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and ^(AF)a large number of priests consecrated themselves. ²⁵ All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, with the priests and the Levites and ^(AG)all the assembly that came from Israel, both the strangers who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem ^(AH)since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. ²⁷ Then ^(AI)the Levitical priests stood and ^(AJ)blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to ^(AK)His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

The Bowls of Wrath

16 Then I heard a loud voice from ^(A)the ^[a]temple, saying to the ^(B)seven angels, “Go and ^(C)pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl ^(D)on the earth; and a harmful and painful ^(E)sore ^[b]afflicted the people ^(F)who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl ^(G)into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living ^[c]thing in the sea died.

⁴ Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the ^(H)rivers and the springs of waters; and they ^(I)became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “^(J)Righteous are You, ^(K)the One who is and who was, O ^(L)Holy One, because You ^(M)judged these things; ⁶ for they poured out ^(N)the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them ^(O)blood to drink. They ^[d]deserve it.” ⁷ And I heard ^(P)the altar saying, “Yes, ^(Q)Lord God, the Almighty, ^(R)true and righteous are Your judgments.”

⁸ And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon ^(S)the sun, ^(T)and it was given power to scorch people with fire. ⁹ And the people were scorched with ^[e]fierce heat; and they ^(U)blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they ^(V)did not repent so as to ^(W)give Him glory.

¹⁰ And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the ^(X)throne of the beast, and his kingdom became ^(Y)darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, ¹¹ and they ^(Z)blasphemed the ^(AA)God of heaven because of their pain and their ^(AB)sores; and they ^(AC)did not repent of their deeds.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the ^(AD)great river, the Euphrates; and ^(AE)its water was dried up, so that ^(AF)the way would be prepared for the kings ^(AG)from the ^[f]east.

Har-Magedon (Armageddon)

¹³ And I saw coming out of the mouth of the ^(AH)dragon, and out of the mouth of the ^(AI)beast, and out of the mouth of the ^(AJ)false prophet, three ^(AK)unclean spirits like ^(AL)frogs; ¹⁴ for they are ^(AM)spirits of demons, ^(AN)performing signs, which go out to the kings of the ^(AO)entire ^[g]world, to ^(AP)gather them together for the war of the ^(AQ)great day of God, the Almighty. ¹⁵ (“Behold, ^(AR)I am coming like a thief. ^(AS)Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, ^(AT)so that he will not walk about naked and people will not see his shame.”) ¹⁶ And they ^(AU)gathered them together to the place which ^(AV)in Hebrew is called ^(AW)Har-Magedon.

The Seventh Bowl of Wrath

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon ^(AX)the air, and a ^(AY)loud voice came out of the ^[h](AZ)temple from the throne, saying, “^(BA)It is done.” ¹⁸ And there were flashes of ^(BB)lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was ^(BC)a great earthquake, ^(BD)such as there had not been since mankind came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. ^19 (BE)The great city ^[i]was split into three parts, and the cities of the ^[j]nations fell. ^(BF)Babylon the great was ^(BG)remembered in the sight of God, to give her ^(BH)the cup of the wine of ^[k]His fierce wrath. ²⁰ And ^(BI)every island fled, and no mountains were found. ²¹ And ^(BJ)huge ^[l]hailstones, weighing about ^[m]a talent each, *came down from heaven upon people; and people ^(BK)blasphemed God because of the ^(BL)plague of the hail, because ^[n]the hailstone plague *was extremely ^[o]severe.