Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan

3 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord and the accuser^[a] standing at his right hand to accuse him.^{(A) 2} And the Lord said to the accuser,^[b] “The Lord rebuke you, O accuser!^[c] The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?”^{(B) 3} Now Joshua was wearing filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ The angel^[d] said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.”^{(C) 5} And he said,^[e] “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with apparel, and the angel of the Lord was standing by.^(D)

⁶ Then the angel of the Lord warned Joshua, saying ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.^{(E) 8} Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch.^{(F) 9} For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day.^{(G) 10} On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.”^(H)

The Heavenly Worship

4 After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”^{(A) 2} At once I was in the spirit,^[a] and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne!^{(B) 3} And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads.^{(C) 5} Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God,^{(D) 6} and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and back:^{(E) 7} the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.^{(F) 8} And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Slave

⁴⁵ “Who, then, is the faithful and wise slave whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves^[a] their allowance of food at the proper time?^{(A) 46} Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.^{(B) 47} Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.^{(C) 48} But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. ⁵¹ He will cut him in pieces^[b] and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(D)