The Scroll and the Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne ^(A)a scroll written within and on the back, ^(B)sealed with seven seals. ² And ^(C)I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” ³ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, ⁴ and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁵ And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, ^(D)the Lion ^(E)of the tribe of Judah, ^(F)the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

The Time of the End

12 “At that time shall arise ^(A)Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And ^(B)there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, ^(C)everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. ² And many of those who ^(D)sleep in ^(E)the dust of the earth shall ^(F)awake, ^(G)some to everlasting life, and ^(H)some to shame and everlasting contempt. ^3 (I)And those who are wise ^(J)shall shine like the brightness of the sky above;^[a] and ^(K)those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, ^(L)shut up the words and ^(M)seal the book, until ^(N)the time of the end. ^(O)Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on ^(P)this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. ⁶ And someone said to ^(Q)the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream,^{[b] (R)}“How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” ⁷ And I heard ^(S)the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; ^(T)he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and ^(U)swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a ^(V)time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of ^(W)the power of ^(X)the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. ⁸ I heard, ^(Y)but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” ⁹ He said, ^(Z)“Go your way, Daniel, ^(AA)for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. ^10 (AB)Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but ^(AC)the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, ^(AD)but those who are wise shall understand. ¹¹ And from the time that ^(AE)the regular burnt offering is taken away and ^(AF)the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. ^12 (AG)Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. ^13 (AH)But go your way till the end. ^(AI)And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at ^(AJ)the end of the days.”

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

¹⁰ In that day ^(O)the root of ^(P)Jesse, who shall stand as ^(Q)a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

^11 (R)In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, ^(S)from Assyria, ^(T)from Egypt, from ^(U)Pathros, from ^(V)Cush,^[a] from ^(W)Elam, from ^(X)Shinar, from ^(Y)Hamath, and from ^(Z)the coastlands of the sea.

Prophecy Against Egypt

29 ^(A)In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (B)“Son of man, ^(C)set your face against ^(D)Pharaoh king of Egypt, ^(E)and prophesy against him and ^(F)against all Egypt; ³ speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God:

⁶ Then all the inhabitants of Egypt ^(O)shall know that I am the Lord.

“Because you^[a] have been ^(P)a staff of reed to the house of Israel, ^7 (Q)when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.^{[b] 8} Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(R)Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, ⁹ and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. ^(S)Then they will know that I am the Lord.

^(T)“Because you^[c] said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,’ ¹⁰ therefore, ^(U)behold, I am against you and ^(V)against your streams, and ^(W)I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, ^(X)from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. ^11 (Y)No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. ^12 (Z)And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. ^(AA)I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.

¹³ “For thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years ^(AB)I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, ¹⁴ and ^(AC)I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to ^(AD)the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵ It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, ^(AE)and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. ¹⁶ And it shall never again be ^(AF)the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. ^(AG)Then they will know that I am the Lord God.”

^17 (AH)In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ^18 (AI)“Son of man, ^(AJ)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(AK)Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; ^(AL)and he shall carry off its wealth^{[d] (AM)}and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. ^20 (AN)I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.

²¹ “On that day ^(AO)I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and ^(AP)I will open your lips among them. ^(AQ)Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(A)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^(B)which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^(C)was shut up in ^(D)the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(E)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ^4 (F)Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(G)but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵ And ^(H)he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^(I)Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^(J)‘Buy my field that is at ^(K)Anathoth, ^(L)for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸ Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^(M)the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^(N)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ “And I bought the field at ^(O)Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^(P)weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ^10 (Q)I signed the deed, ^(R)sealed it, ^(S)got witnesses, and ^(T)weighed the money on scales. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. ¹² And I gave the deed of purchase to ^(U)Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^(V)the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^(W)the court of the guard. ¹³ I charged ^(X)Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and ^(Y)fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “After I had given the deed of purchase to ^(Z)Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ ‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^(AA)you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^(AB)your outstretched arm! ^(AC)Nothing is too hard for you. ^18 (AD)You show steadfast love to thousands, ^(AE)but you repay the guilt of fathers ^(AF)to their children after them, O great and ^(AG)mighty God, whose name is the ^(AH)Lord of hosts, ^19 (AI)great in counsel and ^(AJ)mighty in deed, ^(AK)whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^(AL)rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰ You have shown ^(AM)signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^(AN)and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. ^21 (AO)You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^(AP)outstretched arm, ^(AQ)and with great terror. ²² And you gave them this land, ^(AR)which you swore to their fathers to give them, ^(AS)a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ And they entered and took possession of it. ^(AT)But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. ²⁴ Behold, ^(AU)the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^(AV)because of sword and famine and pestilence ^(AW)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. ²⁵ Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^(AX)“Buy the field for money ^(AY)and get witnesses”—though ^(AZ)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, ^(BA)the God of all flesh. ^(BB)Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^(BC)Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹ The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^(BD)shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^(BE)with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^(BF)and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^(BG)to provoke me to anger. ³⁰ For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ^(BH)from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^(BI)provoke me to anger ^(BJ)by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. ³¹ This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^(BK)so that I will remove it from my sight ³² because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—^(BL)their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^33 (BM)They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ^(BN)persistently, they have not listened ^(BO)to receive instruction. ³⁴ They set up ^(BP)their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵ They built the high places of Baal ^(BQ)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(BR)to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^(BS)though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^(BT)this abomination, ^(BU)to cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

³⁶ “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ^(BV)‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ^37 (BW)Behold, I will gather them from all the countries ^(BX)to which I drove them in ^(BY)my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^(BZ)and I will make them dwell in safety. ^38 (CA)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ^39 (CB)I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^(CC)for their own good and the good of their children after them. ^40 (CD)I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^(CE)And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ^41 (CF)I will rejoice in doing them good, ^(CG)and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴² “For thus says the Lord: ^(CH)Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ^43 (CI)Fields shall be bought in this land ^(CJ)of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^(CK)it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴ Fields shall be bought for money, and ^(CL)deeds shall be signed and ^(CM)sealed and ^(CN)witnessed, ^(CO)in the land of Benjamin, ^(CP)in the places about Jerusalem, ^(CQ)and in the cities of Judah, ^(CR)in the cities of the hill country, ^(CS)in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^(CT)I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed