Message to Ethiopia

⁴ For this is what the Lord has told me:

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(A)He began to teach ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing they may see, and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, and not understand, otherwise they might return and it would be forgiven them.”

Explanation of the Parable

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they ^[c]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[e]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

Message to Egypt

19 The ^(A)pronouncement concerning ^(B)Egypt:

¹⁶ On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great ^(Z)fear because of the ^(AA)waving of the hand of the Lord of armies, which He is going to wave over them. ¹⁷ The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the ^(AB)plan of the Lord of armies which He is making against them.

The Two Witnesses

11 Then there was given to me a ^[a](A)measuring rod like a staff; ^[b]and ^(B)someone said, “Get up and measure the ^[c]temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. ^2 [d]Leave out the ^(C)courtyard which is outside the ^[e]temple and do not measure it, because ^(D)it has been given to the nations; and they will ^(E)trample ^(F)the holy city for ^(G)forty-two months. ³ And I will grant authority to my two ^(H)witnesses, and they will prophesy for ^(I)1,260 days, clothed in ^(J)sackcloth.” ⁴ These are the ^(K)two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone wants to harm them, ^(L)fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and so if anyone wants to harm them, ^(M)he must be killed in this way. ⁶ These have the power to ^(N)shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during ^(O)the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to ^(P)turn them into blood, and ^(Q)to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

⁷ When they have finished their testimony, ^(R)the beast that comes up out of the ^(S)abyss will ^(T)make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. ⁸ And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the ^(U)great city which ^[f]spiritually is called ^(V)Sodom and ^(W)Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹ Those from ^(X)the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead ^[g]bodies for three and a half days, and ^[h](Y)will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. ¹⁰ And ^(Z)those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will ^(AA)send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented ^(AB)those who live on the earth.

¹¹ And after the three and a half days, ^(AC)the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. ¹² And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “^(AD)Come up here.” And they ^(AE)went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³ And ^[i]at that time there was a great ^(AF)earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; ^[j]seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and ^(AG)gave glory to the ^(AH)God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second ^(AI)woe has passed; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

The Seventh Trumpet: Christ’s Reign Foreseen

¹⁵ Then the ^(AJ)seventh angel sounded; and there were ^(AK)loud voices in heaven, saying,

“^(AL)The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of ^(AM)His ^[k]Christ; and ^(AN)He will reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders, who ^(AO)sit on their thrones before God, ^(AP)fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying,

“We give You thanks, ^(AQ)Lord God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to ^(AR)reign. ¹⁸ And ^(AS)the nations were enraged, and ^(AT)Your wrath came, and ^(AU)the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to ^[l]reward Your ^(AV)bond-servants the prophets and the ^[m]saints and those who fear Your name, ^(AW)the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹ And ^(AX)the ^[n]temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and ^(AY)the ark of His covenant appeared in His ^[o]temple, and there were flashes of ^(AZ)lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a ^(BA)great ^[p]hailstorm.