Judah’s Security

12 A pronouncement:

The word of the Lord concerning Israel.
A declaration of the Lord,
who stretched out the heavens,(A)
laid the foundation of the earth,(B)
and formed the spirit of man within him.

“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering(C) for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.(D) On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.(E) On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.(F) I will keep a watchful eye on(G) the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God. On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile,(H) like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,(I) so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.(J)

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The Fall of Babylon the Great

18 After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven,(A) and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. He called out in a mighty voice:

It has fallen,[a]
Babylon the Great has fallen!(B)
She has become a home for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
and a haunt[b] for every unclean and despicable beast.[c](C)
For all the nations have drunk[d]
the wine of her sexual immorality,
which brings wrath.(D)
The kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.(E)

Then I heard another voice from heaven:

Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins(F)
or receive any of her plagues.
For her sins are piled up[e] to heaven,(G)
and God has remembered her crimes.(H)
Pay her back the way she also paid,(I)
and double it according to her works.(J)
In the cup in which she mixed,(K)
mix a double portion for her.
As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways,
give her that much torment and grief.
For she says in her heart,
“I sit as a queen;
I am not a widow,
and I will never see grief.”(L)
For this reason her plagues will come in just one day—
death and grief and famine.(M)
She will be burned up with fire,(N)
because the Lord God who judges(O) her is mighty.(P)

The World Mourns Babylon’s Fall

The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning. 10 They will stand far off in fear of her torment,(Q) saying,

Woe, woe, the great city,(R)
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour
your judgment has come.

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Footnotes

  1. 18:2 Other mss omit It has fallen
  2. 18:2 Or prison
  3. 18:2 Other mss omit the words and a haunt for every unclean beast. The words and despicable then refer to the bird of the previous line.
  4. 18:3 Some mss read collapsed; other mss read fallen
  5. 18:5 Or sins have reached up

Suffering and Service

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons.(A) She knelt down to ask him for something.(B) 21 “What do you want?” he asked her.

“Promise,”[a] she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.”(C)

22 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”[b](D)

“We are able,” they said to him.

23 He told them, “You will indeed drink my cup,[c] but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 20:21 Lit Say
  2. 20:22 Other mss add and (or) to be baptized with the baptism which I am baptized?”
  3. 20:23 Other mss add and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.

The First Lord’s Supper

14 When(A) the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again[a] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”(B) 17 Then he took a cup,(C) and after giving thanks,(D) he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body,(E) which is given for you. Do this in remembrance (F) of me.”

20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant(G) in my blood,(H) which is poured out for you.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 22:16 Other mss omit again
  2. 22:19–20 Other mss omit which is given for you (v. 19) through the end of v. 20

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