The Eighth Plague: Locusts^(A)

10 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; ^(B)for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, ^(C)that I may show these signs of Mine before him, ² and that ^(D)you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may ^(E)know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to ^(F)humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may ^(G)serve Me. ⁴ Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring ^(H)locusts into your territory. ⁵ And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and ^(I)they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. ⁶ They shall ^(J)fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷ Then Pharaoh’s ^(K)servants said to him, “How long shall this man be ^(L)a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?”

⁹ And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for ^(M)we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you.

The Lord Condemns Ahab

^17 (A)Then the word of the Lord came to ^(B)Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, ^(C)who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. ¹⁹ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” ’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(D)“In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.” ’ ”

²⁰ So Ahab said to Elijah, ^(E)“Have you found me, O my enemy?”

And he answered, “I have found you, because ^(F)you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: ²¹ ‘Behold, ^(G)I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your ^(H)posterity, and will cut off from Ahab ^(I)every male in Israel, both ^(J)bond and free. ²² I will make your house like the house of ^(K)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of ^(L)Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.’ ²³ And ^(M)concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the ^[a]wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ The dogs shall eat ^(N)whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.”

²⁵ But ^(O)there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, ^(P)because Jezebel his wife ^[b]stirred him up. ²⁶ And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all ^(Q)that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

²⁷ So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and ^(R)put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.

²⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he ^(S)has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. ^(T)In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”

The Lamb Takes the Scroll

5 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne ^(A)a scroll written inside and on the back, ^(B)sealed with seven seals. ² Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ^(C)“Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” ³ And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

⁴ So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open ^[a]and read the scroll, or to look at it. ⁵ But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, ^(D)the Lion of the tribe of ^(E)Judah, ^(F)the Root of David, has ^(G)prevailed to open the scroll ^(H)and ^[b]to loose its seven seals.”

⁶ And I looked, ^[c]and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood ^(I)a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and ^(J)seven eyes, which are ^(K)the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand ^(L)of Him who sat on the throne.

Worthy Is the Lamb

⁸ Now when He had taken the scroll, ^(M)the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the ^(N)prayers of the saints. ⁹ And ^(O)they sang a new song, saying:

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice:

¹³ And ^(U)every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

¹⁴ Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the ^[h]twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped ^[i]Him who lives forever and ever.