Hope for the Future

²² Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ² On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!^{(A) 3} Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary^[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense^[b] at him.^{(B) 4} Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.”^{(C) 5} And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.^{(D) 6} And he was amazed at their unbelief.

The Mission of the Twelve

Then he went about among the villages teaching.^{(E) 7} He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.^{(F) 8} He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, ⁹ but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰ He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹ If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” ¹² So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.^{(G) 13} They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.^(H)

¹⁹ O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.^{(A) 20} Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any longer, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.^{(B) 21} And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”^{(C) 22} Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like impure things; you will say to them, “Away with you!”^(D)

²³ He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures,^{(E) 24} and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage that has been winnowed with shovel and fork. ²⁵ On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. ²⁶ Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.^(F)

Judgment on Assyria

²⁹ You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.^{(I) 30} And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones.^{(J) 31} The Assyrian will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord when he strikes with his rod.^{(K) 32} And every stroke of the staff of punishment^[b] that the Lord lays upon him will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres with dancing;^[c] with brandished arm he will fight with him.^{(L) 33} For his burning place^[d] has long been prepared, also for the king;^[e] its pyre is made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.^(M)

The Angels with the Seven Last Plagues

15 Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.^(A)

² And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.^{(B) 3} And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

⁵ After this I looked, and the temple of the tent^[b] of witness in heaven was opened, ⁶ and out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure bright linen,^[c] with golden sashes across their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever;^{(E) 8} and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.^(F)