An Oracle Concerning Cush

^7 (J)At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts

to ^(L)Mount Zion, the place of the ^(M)name of the Lord of hosts.

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again ^(A)he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ^(B)so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And ^(C)he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, ^(D)a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And ^(E)when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^(F)it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among ^(G)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^(H)a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, ^(I)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And ^(J)when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, ^(K)“To you has been given ^(L)the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^(M)those outside everything is in parables, ^12 (N)so that

^13 (Q)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ^14 (R)The sower sows ^(S)the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it ^(T)with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but ^(U)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(V)they fall away.^{[a] 18} And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but ^(W)the cares of ^(X)the world and ^(Y)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ^(Z)bear fruit, ^(AA)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

An Oracle Concerning Egypt

19 An ^(A)oracle concerning ^(B)Egypt.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians will be ^(V)like women, and ^(W)tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.

The Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given ^(A)a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, ² but do not measure ^(B)the court outside the temple; leave that out, for ^(C)it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for ^(D)forty-two months. ³ And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for ^(E)1,260 days, ^(F)clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴ These are ^(G)the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone would harm them, ^(H)fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, ^(I)this is how he is doomed to be killed. ⁶ They have the power ^(J)to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and ^(K)to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. ⁷ And when they have finished their testimony, ^(L)the beast that rises from ^(M)the bottomless pit^{[a] (N)}will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, ⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically^[b] is called ^(O)Sodom and ^(P)Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. ⁹ For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and ^(Q)refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, ¹⁰ and ^(R)those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and ^(S)exchange presents, because these two prophets ^(T)had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹ But after the three and a half days ^(U)a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ^(V)“Come up here!” And ^(W)they went up to heaven ^(X)in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³ And at that hour there was ^(Y)a great earthquake, and ^(Z)a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and ^(AA)gave glory to ^(AB)the God of heaven.

^14 (AC)The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵ Then ^(AD)the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and ^(AE)there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ^(AF)“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of ^(AG)his Christ, and ^(AH)he shall reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders ^(AI)who sit on their thrones before God ^(AJ)fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying,

¹⁹ Then ^(AQ)God's temple in heaven was opened, and ^(AR)the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,^[c] peals of thunder, an earthquake, and ^(AS)heavy hail.