Dedication of the City Wall

²⁷ Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with rejoicing, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.^{(A) 28} The companies of the singers gathered together from the circuit around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites,^{(B) 29} also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰ And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.^(C)

³¹ Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession. One went to the right on the wall to the Dung Gate,^(D)

⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. ⁴³ They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

Temple Responsibilities

⁴⁴ On that day men were appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the law for the priests and for the Levites from the fields belonging to the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered.^{(A) 45} They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon.^{(B) 46} For in the days of David and Asaph long ago there was a leader of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.^{(C) 47} In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers. They set apart that which was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart that which was for the descendants of Aaron.^(D)

The Two Witnesses

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

⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.^{(D) 5} And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner.^{(E) 6} They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.^(F)

⁷ When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will wage war on them and conquer them and kill them,^{(G) 8} and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically^[a] called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.^{(H) 9} For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, ¹⁰ and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.^(I)

¹¹ But after the three and a half days, the breath^[b] of life from God entered the two witnesses,^[c] and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified.^{(J) 12} Then they^[d] heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them.^{(K) 13} At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.^(L)

¹⁴ The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.^(M)

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,

¹⁶ Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,^{(O) 17} singing,

¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple, and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.^(R)

Three Parables

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.^(A)

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; ⁴⁶ on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;^{(B) 48} when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous^{(C) 50} and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(D)

Treasures New and Old

⁵¹ “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” ⁵² And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”