The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

⁴ Thus said the Lord my God: ^(G)“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ^5 (H)Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^(I)I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶ For ^(J)I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

^7 (K)So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^(L)Favor, the other I named ^(M)Union. ^(N)And I tended the sheep. ⁸ In one month ^(O)I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹ So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. ^(P)What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” ¹⁰ And I took ^(Q)my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages ^(R)thirty pieces of silver. ¹³ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—^(S)the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the ^(T)thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ¹⁴ Then I broke ^(U)my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ^(V)a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd ^(W)who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but ^(X)devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw ^(A)a new heaven and a new earth, for ^(B)the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw ^(C)the holy city, ^(D)new Jerusalem, ^(E)coming down out of heaven from God, ^(F)prepared ^(G)as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, ^(H)the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will ^(I)dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.^{[c] 4 (J)}He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and ^(K)death shall be no more, ^(L)neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And ^(M)he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I ^(N)am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for ^(O)these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, ^(P)“It is done! ^(Q)I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. ^(R)To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ^7 (S)The one who conquers will have this heritage, and ^(T)I will be his God and ^(U)he will be my son. ^8 (V)But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, ^(W)their portion will be in ^(X)the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is ^(Y)the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

⁹ Then came ^(Z)one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of ^(AA)the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(AB)the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And ^(AC)he carried me away in the Spirit to ^(AD)a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, ^11 (AE)having the glory of God, ^(AF)its radiance ^(AG)like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall, ^(AH)with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— ¹³ on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city had twelve ^(AI)foundations, and ^(AJ)on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ And the one who spoke with me ^(AK)had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.^[d] Its length and width and height are equal. ¹⁷ He also measured its wall, 144 cubits^[e] by ^(AL)human measurement, which is also ^(AM)an angel's measurement. ¹⁸ The wall was built of ^(AN)jasper, while the city was pure gold, like ^(AO)clear glass. ^19 (AP)The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and ^(AQ)the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

²² And ^(AR)I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city ^(AS)has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for ^(AT)the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ By its light ^(AU)will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth ^(AV)will bring their glory into it, ²⁵ and ^(AW)its gates will never be shut by day—and ^(AX)there will be no night there. ²⁶ They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁷ But ^(AY)nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's ^(AZ)book of life.

The River of Life

22 Then the angel^[f] showed me ^(BA)the river of ^(BB)the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of ^(BC)the street of the city; ^(BD)also, on either side of the river, ^(BE)the tree of life^[g] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were ^(BF)for the healing of the nations. ^3 (BG)No longer will there be anything accursed, but ^(BH)the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and ^(BI)his servants will worship him. ^4 (BJ)They will see his face, and ^(BK)his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And ^(BL)night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp ^(BM)or sun, for ^(BN)the Lord God will be their light, and ^(BO)they will reign forever and ever.

Jesus Is Coming

⁶ And he said to me, ^(BP)“These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of ^(BQ)the spirits of the prophets, ^(BR)has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

⁷ “And behold, ^(BS)I am coming soon. ^(BT)Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸ I, ^(BU)John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, ^(BV)I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ^9 (BW)but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those ^(BX)who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

¹⁰ And he said to me, ^(BY)“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ^11 (BZ)Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

¹² “Behold, ^(CA)I am coming soon, ^(CB)bringing my recompense with me, ^(CC)to repay each one for what he has done. ^13 (CD)I am the Alpha and the Omega, ^(CE)the first and the last, ^(CF)the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who ^(CG)wash their robes,^[h] so that they may have the right to ^(CH)the tree of life and that ^(CI)they may enter the city by the gates. ^15 (CJ)Outside are ^(CK)the dogs ^(CL)and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

^16 (CM)“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things ^(CN)for the churches. I am ^(CO)the root and ^(CP)the descendant of David, ^(CQ)the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and ^(CR)the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And ^(CS)let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the ^(CT)water of life without price.

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: ^(CU)if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in ^(CV)the tree of life and in ^(CW)the holy city, which are described in this book.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely ^(CX)I am coming soon.” Amen. ^(CY)Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.^[i] Amen.