¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.^{(A) 18} Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(B) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(C)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(D) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(E) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

¹³ The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.^{(A) 14} Instead, they have followed^(B) the stubbornness of their hearts;^(C) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food^(D) and drink poisoned water.^(E)

Warning and Encouragement

¹⁴ Make every effort to live in peace with everyone^(A) and to be holy;^(B) without holiness no one will see the Lord.^(C)

¹⁵ See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God^(A) and that no bitter root^(B) grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky^(A) on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water^(B)—

¹¹ the name of the star is Wormwood.^[a] A third^(A) of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.^(B)

Babylon, the Prostitute on the Beast

17 One of the seven angels^(A) who had the seven bowls^(B) came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment^(C) of the great prostitute,^(D) who sits by many waters.^(E)

² With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”^(A)

¹⁸ The woman you saw is the great city^(A) that rules over the kings of the earth.”