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24 Ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus[a];
    they will oppress Assyria and afflict Eber,
    but they, too, will be utterly destroyed.”

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Footnotes

  1. 24:24 Hebrew Kittim.

The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 10:4 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version (see also 1 Chr 1:7); most Hebrew manuscripts read Dodanim.

30 For warships from western coastlands[a] will scare him off, and he will withdraw and return home. But he will vent his anger against the people of the holy covenant and reward those who forsake the covenant.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:30 Hebrew from Kittim.

20 Then Balaam looked over toward the people of Amalek and delivered this message:

“Amalek was the greatest of nations,
    but its destiny is destruction!”

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He gave a mighty shout:

“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
    She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul[a] spirit,
    a hideout for every foul vulture
    and every foul and dreadful animal.[b]
For all the nations have fallen[c]
    because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
    have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
    the merchants of the world have grown rich.”

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven,

“Come away from her, my people.
    Do not take part in her sins,
    or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
    and God remembers her evil deeds.
Do to her as she has done to others.
    Double her penalty[d] for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others,
    so brew twice as much[e] for her.
She glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart,
    ‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow,
    and I have no reason to mourn.’
Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—
    death and mourning and famine.
She will be completely consumed by fire,
    for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”

And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. 10 They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out,

“How terrible, how terrible for you,
    O Babylon, you great city!
In a single moment
    God’s judgment came on you.”

11 The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods. 12 She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood; and bronze, iron, and marble. 13 She also bought cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies—that is, human slaves.

14 “The fancy things you loved so much
    are gone,” they cry.
“All your luxuries and splendor
    are gone forever,
    never to be yours again.”

15 The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out,

16 “How terrible, how terrible for that great city!
    She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens,
    decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 In a single moment
    all the wealth of the city is gone!”

And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance. 18 They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as this?” 19 And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out,

“How terrible, how terrible for that great city!
    The shipowners became wealthy
    by transporting her great wealth on the seas.
In a single moment it is all gone.”

20 Rejoice over her fate, O heaven
    and people of God and apostles and prophets!
For at last God has judged her
    for your sakes.

21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted,

“Just like this, the great city Babylon
    will be thrown down with violence
    and will never be found again.
22 The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets
    will never be heard in you again.
No craftsmen and no trades
    will ever be found in you again.
The sound of the mill
    will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp
    will never shine in you again.
The happy voices of brides and grooms
    will never be heard in you again.
For your merchants were the greatest in the world,
    and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.
24 In your[f] streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people
    and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”

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Footnotes

  1. 18:2a Greek unclean; also in each of the two following phrases.
  2. 18:2b Some manuscripts condense the last two lines to read a hideout for every foul [unclean] and dreadful vulture.
  3. 18:3 Some manuscripts read have drunk.
  4. 18:6a Or Give her an equal penalty.
  5. 18:6b Or brew just as much.
  6. 18:24 Greek her.

48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple[a] and our nation.”

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Footnotes

  1. 11:48 Or our position; Greek reads our place.

29 For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ 30 People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’[a] 31 For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 23:30 Hos 10:8.
  2. 23:31 Or If these things are done to me, the living tree, what will happen to you, the dry tree?

15 “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration[a] standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!)

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Footnotes

  1. 24:15 Greek the abomination of desolation. See Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11.

45 He will stop between the glorious holy mountain and the sea and will pitch his royal tents. But while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, and no one will help him.

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20 He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece[a] will come.

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Footnotes

  1. 10:20 Hebrew of Javan.

26 “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven,[a] the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven,[b] but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds,[c] he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration,[d] until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”

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Footnotes

  1. 9:26 Hebrew After sixty-two sevens.
  2. 9:27a Hebrew for one seven.
  3. 9:27b Hebrew And on the wing; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  4. 9:27c Hebrew an abomination of desolation.

21 The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece,[a] and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:21 Hebrew of Javan.

While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes, headed toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the river, rushing at him in a rage. The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and the goat knocked him down and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.

The goat became very powerful. But at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off. In the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth.

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23 Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path. 24 Its ten horns are ten kings who will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them. 25 He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time.

26 “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed.

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19 Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet. 20 I also asked about the ten horns on the fourth beast’s head and the little horn that came up afterward and destroyed three of the other horns. This horn had seemed greater than the others, and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.

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45 That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.”

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35 The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.

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A Message about Tyre

23 This message came to me concerning Tyre:

Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish,
    for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone!
The rumors you heard in Cyprus[a]
    are all true.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:1 Hebrew Kittim; also in 23:12.

13 But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram’s allies.

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Descendants of Shem

21 Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.[a] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.

22 The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

23 The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,[b] and Shelah was the father of Eber.

25 Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg (which means “division”), for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups. His brother’s name was Joktan.

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Footnotes

  1. 10:21 Or Shem, whose older brother was Japheth.
  2. 10:24 Greek version reads Arphaxad was the father of Cainan, Cainan was the father of Shelah. Compare Luke 3:36.

24 “Show me a Roman coin.[a] Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

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Footnotes

  1. 20:24 Greek a denarius.

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