Zechariah 9-10
Christian Standard Bible
Judgment of Zion’s Enemies
9 A pronouncement:
The word of the Lord
is against the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus(A) is its resting place—
for the eyes of humanity
and all the tribes of Israel
are on the Lord[a]—
2 and also against Hamath,(B) which borders it,
as well as Tyre(C) and Sidon,(D)
though they are very shrewd.
3 Tyre has built herself a fortress;
she has heaped up silver like dust
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 Listen! The Lord will impoverish her
and cast her wealth into the sea;
she herself will be consumed by fire.(E)
5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid;
Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain,
as will Ekron, for her hope will fail.
There will cease to be a king in Gaza,
and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.
6 A mongrel people will live in Ashdod,
and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.(F)
7 I will remove the blood from their mouths
and the abhorrent things(G)
from between their teeth.
Then they too will become a remnant for our God;
they will become like a clan in Judah
and Ekron like the Jebusites.(H)
8 I will encamp at my house as a guard,
against those who march back and forth,
and no oppressor will march against them again,
for now I have seen with my own eyes.
The Coming of Zion’s King
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
he is righteous and victorious,[b]
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.(I)
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The bow of war will be removed,
and he will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River
to the ends of the earth.(J)
11 As for you,
because of the blood of your covenant,(K)
I will release your prisoners
from the waterless cistern.(L)
12 Return to a stronghold,
you prisoners who have hope;
today I declare that I will restore double to you.(M)
13 For I will bend Judah as my bow;
I will fill that bow with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece.[c](N)
I will make you like a warrior’s sword.
14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and his arrow will fly like lightning.
The Lord God will sound the ram’s horn
and advance with the southern storms.(O)
15 The Lord of Armies will defend them.
They will consume and conquer with slingstones;
they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine.(P)
They will be as full as the sprinkling basin,(Q)
like those at the corners of the altar.(R)
16 The Lord their God will save them on that day
as the flock of his people;(S)
for they are like jewels in a crown,(T)
sparkling over his land.
17 How lovely and beautiful!
Grain will make the young men flourish,
and new wine, the young women.
The Lord Restores His People
10 Ask the Lord for rain
in the season of spring rain.
The Lord makes the rain clouds,
and he will give them showers of rain
and crops in the field for everyone.(U)
2 For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners(V) see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
3 My anger burns against the shepherds,
so I will punish the leaders.[d]
For the Lord of Armies has tended his flock,
the house of Judah;
he will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
4 The cornerstone,(W) the tent peg,(X)
the battle bow,(Y) and every ruler—
all will go out from him together.
5 They will be like warriors in battle
trampling down the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put horsemen to shame.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.[e]
I will restore[f] them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.(Z)
For I am the Lord their God,
and I will answer them.
7 Ephraim(AA) will be like a warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.
Their children will see it and be glad;(AB)
their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will whistle(AC) and gather them
because I have redeemed(AD) them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.
9 Though I sow(AE) them among the nations,
they will remember(AF) me in the distant lands;
they and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead(AG)
and to Lebanon,
but it will not be enough for them.
11 The Lord[g] will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the waves of the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(AH)
The pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
12 I will strengthen(AI) them in the Lord,
and they will march(AJ) in his name—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
Revelation 18
Christian Standard Bible
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. 2 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)
3 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)
4 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.
5 For her sins are piled up[e] to heaven,(G)
and God has remembered her crimes.(H)
6 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.
7 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)
8 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
9 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.
11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer— 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass,[f] iron, and marble; 13 cinnamon, spice,[g] incense, myrrh,[h] and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves—human lives.(S)
14 The fruit you craved has left you.
All your splendid and glamorous things are gone;
they will never find them again.
15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16 saying,
Woe, woe, the great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet,
adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;(T)
17 for in a single hour
such fabulous wealth was destroyed!
And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off 18 as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out, “Who was like the great city?” (U) 19 They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning,(V)
Woe, woe, the great city,(W)
where all those who have ships on the sea
became rich from her wealth;
for in a single hour she was destroyed.
20 Rejoice over her, heaven,
and you saints, apostles, and prophets,(X)
because God has pronounced on her the judgment(Y) she passed on you!
The Finality of Babylon’s Fall
21 Then a mighty angel(Z) picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
In this way, Babylon the great city
will be thrown down violently(AA)
and never be found again.(AB)
22 The sound of harpists, musicians,
flutists, and trumpeters
will never be heard in you again;(AC)
no craftsman of any trade
will ever be found in you again;
the sound of a mill
will never be heard in you again;
23 the light of a lamp
will never shine in you again;
and the voice of a groom and bride
will never be heard in you again.(AD)
All this will happen
because your merchants
were the nobility of the earth,
because all the nations were deceived
by your sorcery.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints,(AE)
and of all those slaughtered on the earth.(AF)
Footnotes
- 18:2 Other mss omit It has fallen
- 18:2 Or prison
- 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.
- 18:3 Some mss read collapsed; other mss read fallen
- 18:5 Or sins have reached up
- 18:12 Or bronze, or copper
- 18:13 Other mss omit spice
- 18:13 Or perfume
Psalm 147:15-20
Christian Standard Bible
15 He sends his command throughout the earth;
his word runs swiftly.(A)
16 He spreads snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes;(B)
17 he throws his hailstones like crumbs.
Who can withstand his cold?(C)
18 He sends his word and melts them;
he unleashes his winds,[a] and the water flows.(D)
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and judgments to Israel.(E)
20 He has not done this for every nation;
they do not know his judgments.(F)
Hallelujah!
Footnotes
- 147:18 Or breath
Proverbs 31:19-21
Christian Standard Bible
19 She extends her hands to the spinning staff,
and her hands hold the spindle.(A)
20 Her hands reach[a] out to the poor,
and she extends her hands to the needy.(B)
21 She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
for all in her household are doubly clothed.[b]
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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