The Seven Bowls

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying ^(A)to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the ^[a]bowls ^(B)of the wrath of God on the earth.”

First Bowl: Loathsome Sores

² So the first went and poured out his bowl ^(C)upon the earth, and a ^[b]foul and ^(D)loathsome sore came upon the men ^(E)who had the mark of the beast and those ^(F)who worshiped his image.

Second Bowl: The Sea Turns to Blood

³ Then the second angel poured out his bowl ^(G)on the sea, and ^(H)it became blood as of a dead man; ^(I)and every living creature in the sea died.

Third Bowl: The Waters Turn to Blood

⁴ Then the third angel poured out his bowl ^(J)on the rivers and springs of water, ^(K)and they became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel of the waters saying:

⁷ And I heard ^[f]another from the altar saying, “Even so, ^(Q)Lord God Almighty, ^(R)true and righteous are Your judgments.”

Fourth Bowl: Men Are Scorched

⁸ Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl ^(S)on the sun, ^(T)and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. ⁹ And men were scorched with great heat, and they ^(U)blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; ^(V)and they did not repent ^(W)and give Him glory.

Fifth Bowl: Darkness and Pain

¹⁰ Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl ^(X)on the throne of the beast, ^(Y)and his kingdom became full of darkness; ^(Z)and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. ¹¹ They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up

¹² Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl ^(AA)on the great river Euphrates, ^(AB)and its water was dried up, ^(AC)so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. ¹³ And I saw three unclean ^(AD)spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of ^(AE)the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of ^(AF)the false prophet. ¹⁴ For they are spirits of demons, ^(AG)performing signs, which go out to the kings ^[g]of the earth and of ^(AH)the whole world, to gather them to ^(AI)the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

^15 (AJ)“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, ^(AK)lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

^16 (AL)And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, ^[h]Armageddon.

Seventh Bowl: The Earth Utterly Shaken

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ^(AM)“It is done!” ¹⁸ And ^(AN)there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; ^(AO)and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake ^(AP)as had not occurred since men were on the earth. ¹⁹ Now ^(AQ)the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And ^(AR)great Babylon ^(AS)was remembered before God, ^(AT)to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. ²⁰ Then ^(AU)every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. ²¹ And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

The Jews Destroy Their Tormentors

9 Now ^(A)in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, ^(B)the time came for the king’s command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves ^(C)overpowered those who hated them. ² The Jews ^(D)gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who ^(E)sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, ^(F)because fear of them fell upon all people. ³ And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king’s work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. ⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai ^(G)became increasingly prominent. ⁵ Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.

⁶ And in ^(H)Shushan^[a] the ^[b]citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha— ^10 (I)the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews—they killed; ^(J)but they did not lay a hand on the ^[c]plunder.

¹¹ On that day the number of those who were killed in ^[d]Shushan the ^[e]citadel ^[f]was brought to the king. ¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now ^(K)what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done.”

¹³ Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow ^(L)according to today’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons ^(M)be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

¹⁵ And the Jews who were in ^[g]Shushan ^(N)gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; ^(O)but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁶ The remainder of the Jews in the king’s provinces ^(P)gathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; ^(Q)but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. ¹⁷ This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. And on the fourteenth of ^[h]the month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

The Feast of Purim

¹⁸ But the Jews who were at ^[i]Shushan assembled together ^(R)on the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth of ^[j]the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar ^(S)with gladness and feasting, ^(T)as a holiday, and for ^(U)sending presents to one another.

²⁰ And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, ²¹ to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, ²² as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of ^(V)sending presents to one another and gifts to the ^(W)poor. ²³ So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them, ²⁴ because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, ^(X)had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them; ²⁵ but ^(Y)when ^[k]Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that ^[l]this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should ^(Z)return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

²⁶ So they called these days Purim, after the name ^[m]Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of ^(AA)this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would ^(AB)join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, ²⁸ that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.

²⁹ Then Queen Esther, ^(AC)the daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this ^(AD)second letter about Purim. ³⁰ And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to ^(AE)the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, ³¹ to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their ^(AF)fasting and lamenting. ³² So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.

Mordecai’s Advancement

10 And King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on the land and on ^(AG)the islands of the sea. ² Now all the acts of his power and his might, and the account of the greatness of Mordecai, ^(AH)to which the king ^[n]advanced him, are they not written in the book of the ^(AI)chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ For Mordecai the Jew was ^(AJ)second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, ^(AK)seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his ^[o]countrymen.