Revelation 18
English Standard Version
The Fall of Babylon
18 After this I saw (A)another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and (B)the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,
(C)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become (D)a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt (E)for every unclean spirit,
a haunt (F)for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
3 For all nations have drunk[a]
(G)the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and (H)the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
and (I)the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
(J)“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
5 for (K)her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and (L)God has remembered her iniquities.
6 (M)Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
and repay her (N)double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her (O)in the cup she mixed.
7 (P)As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
(Q)‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
and mourning I shall never see.’
8 For this reason her plagues will come (R)in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and (S)she will be burned up with fire;
for (T)mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
9 And (U)the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, (V)will weep and wail over her (W)when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 (X)They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,
“Alas! Alas! (Y)You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!
For (Z)in a single hour your judgment has come.”
11 And (AA)the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.[b]
14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
are lost to you,
never to be found again!”
15 (AB)The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, (AC)will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
16 “Alas, alas, for the great city
(AD)that was clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold,
with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For (AE)in a single hour all this wealth (AF)has been laid waste.”
And (AG)all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and (AH)cried out (AI)as they saw the smoke of her burning,
(AJ)“What city was like the great city?”
19 And they threw (AK)dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,
“Alas, alas, for the great city
(AL)where all who had ships at sea
grew rich by her wealth!
For (AM)in a single hour she has been laid waste.
20 (AN)Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and (AO)apostles and prophets,
for (AP)God has given judgment for you against her!”
21 Then (AQ)a mighty angel (AR)took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“So will Babylon (AS)the great city be thrown down with violence,
and will be found no more;
22 and (AT)the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
will be found in you no more,
and (AU)the sound of the mill
will be heard in you no more,
23 and the light of a lamp
will shine in you no more,
and (AV)the voice of bridegroom and bride
will be heard in you no more,
for (AW)your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
and all nations were deceived (AX)by your sorcery.
24 And (AY)in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of (AZ)all who have been slain on earth.”
Footnotes
- Revelation 18:3 Some manuscripts fallen by
- Revelation 18:13 Or and slaves, and human lives
Proverbs 23
English Standard Version
23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what[a] is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.
3 (A)Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
4 (B)Do not toil to acquire wealth;
(C)be discerning enough to desist.
5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
(D)for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.
6 (E)Do not eat the bread of a man who is (F)stingy;[b]
(G)do not desire his delicacies,
7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.[c]
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his (H)heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.
10 (I)Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their (J)Redeemer is strong;
he will (K)plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold (L)discipline from a child;
(M)if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
14 If you strike him with the rod,
you will (N)save his soul from Sheol.
15 (O)My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
16 My (P)inmost being[d] will exult
when your lips speak (Q)what is right.
17 Let not your heart (R)envy sinners,
but continue in (S)the fear of the Lord all the day.
18 Surely (T)there is a future,
and your (U)hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and (V)be wise,
and (W)direct your heart in the way.
20 Be not among (X)drunkards[e]
or among (Y)gluttonous eaters of meat,
21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and (Z)slumber will clothe them with rags.
22 (AA)Listen to your father who gave you life,
(AB)and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 (AC)Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 (AD)The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25 (AE)Let your father and mother be glad;
let (AF)her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe[f] my ways.
27 For a prostitute is (AG)a deep pit;
(AH)an adulteress[g] is a narrow (AI)well.
28 (AJ)She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.
29 (AK)Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has (AL)wounds without cause?
Who has (AM)redness of eyes?
30 Those who (AN)tarry long over wine;
those who go to try (AO)mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it (AP)bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter (AQ)perverse things.
34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.[h]
35 “They (AR)struck me,” you will say,[i] “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I (AS)must have another drink.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:1 Or who
- Proverbs 23:6 Hebrew whose eye is evil
- Proverbs 23:7 Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he
- Proverbs 23:16 Hebrew My kidneys
- Proverbs 23:20 Hebrew those who drink too much wine
- Proverbs 23:26 Or delight in
- Proverbs 23:27 Hebrew a foreign woman
- Proverbs 23:34 Or of the rigging
- Proverbs 23:35 Hebrew lacks you will say
Jeremiah 43-45
English Standard Version
Jeremiah Taken to Egypt
43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, 2 Azariah the son of (A)Hoshaiah and (B)Johanan the son of Kareah and (C)all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, (D)‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ 3 but (E)Baruch the son of Neriah (F)has set you against us, (G)to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 4 So (H)Johanan the son of Kareah and all (I)the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took (J)all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— 6 (K)the men, the women, the children, (L)the princesses, and every person whom (M)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with (N)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at (O)Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in (P)Tahpanhes: 9 “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in (Q)Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (R)my servant, (S)and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come (T)and strike the land of Egypt, (U)giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 (V)I shall kindle a fire (W)in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them (X)and carry them away captive. (Y)And he shall clean the land of Egypt (Z)as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the (AA)obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, (AB)and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”
Judgment for Idolatry
44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at (AC)Migdol, at (AD)Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of (AE)Pathros, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day (AF)they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of the evil that they committed, (AG)provoking me to anger, (AH)in that they went to make offerings (AI)and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4 (AJ)Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ 5 (AK)But they did not listen (AL)or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. 6 (AM)Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, (AN)and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. 7 And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil (AO)against yourselves, to cut off from you (AP)man and woman, (AQ)infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? 8 (AR)Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, (AS)making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become (AT)a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, (AU)the evil of the kings of Judah, (AV)the evil of their[a] wives, your own evil, (AW)and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not humbled themselves even to this day, (AX)nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.
11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (AY)Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have (AZ)set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. (BA)In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine (BB)they shall be consumed. (BC)From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, (BD)and they shall become an oath, a horror, (BE)a curse, and a taunt. 13 (BF)I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 (BG)so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive (BH)or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, (BI)except some fugitives.”
15 Then all the men who knew that (BJ)their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in (BK)Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, (BL)we will not listen to you. 17 (BM)But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to (BN)the queen of heaven (BO)and pour out drink offerings to her, (BP)as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. 18 But since we left off making offerings to (BQ)the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything (BR)and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said,[b] “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven (BS)and poured out drink offerings to her, was it (BT)without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, (BU)men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: 21 (BV)“As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, (BW)did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? 22 (BX)The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and (BY)the abominations that you committed. (BZ)Therefore your land has become (CA)a desolation and a waste and a curse, (CB)without inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 It is because you made offerings (CC)and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies (CD)that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”
24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, (CE)all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (CF)You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, (CG)to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! 26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, (CH)all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: (CI)Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, (CJ)that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, (CK)saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ 27 (CL)Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. (CM)All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. 28 (CN)And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, (CO)few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, (CP)shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. 29 This shall be the sign to you, declares the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that (CQ)my words will surely stand against you for harm: 30 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give (CR)Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies (CS)and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave (CT)Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”
Message to Baruch
45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to (CU)Baruch the son of Neriah, (CV)when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, (CW)in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, (CX)‘Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. (CY)I am weary with my groaning, (CZ)and I find no rest.’ 4 Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: (DA)Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. 5 And (DB)do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, (DC)I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you (DD)your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 44:9 Hebrew his
- Jeremiah 44:19 Compare Syriac; Hebrew lacks And the women said
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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