²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets^(A) and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^{(B) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(C) what your ancestors started!^(D)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers!^(E) How will you escape being condemned to hell?^{(F) 34} Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;^(G) others you will flog in your synagogues^(H) and pursue from town to town.^{(I) 35} And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(J) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,^(K) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^{(L) 36} Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.^(M)

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,^(N) how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(O) and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^(P)

The Finality of Babylon’s Doom

²¹ Then a mighty angel^(C) picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea,^(D) and said:

⁸ A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’^[a](A) which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”^(B)

⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast^(C) and its image^(D) and receives its mark on their forehead^(E) or on their hand, ¹⁰ they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury,^(F) which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.^(G) They will be tormented with burning sulfur^(H) in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.