Book of Common Prayer
Preparing the final plagues
15 Then I saw another sign—a great, amazing sight in heaven: seven angels who were bringing the seven last plagues. With them God’s anger is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass, mixed with fire. There, by that glassy sea, stood the people who had won the victory over the monster and over its image, and over the number of its name. They were holding harps of God, 3 and they were singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the lamb. This is how it went:
Great and amazing are your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty one.
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations.
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
For all nations shall come
and worship before you,
because your judgments have been revealed.
5 After this I looked, and the temple of the “tabernacle of witness” was opened in heaven. 6 The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in clean, shining linen, wearing golden belts across their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of the God who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and his power. Nobody was able to go into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels had been completed.
The feeding of the five thousand
13 When Jesus heard it, he went away from there in a boat to a deserted spot by himself. The crowds heard about it, and they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he came out and saw the large crowd, he was sorry for them. He healed their sick.
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him.
“This is a deserted spot,” they said, “and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 “They don’t need to go away,” said Jesus. “You give them something to eat.”
17 “All we have here,” they said, “is five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said.
19 He told the crowds to sit down on the grass. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven. He blessed the loaves, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 Everybody ate and was satisfied, and they picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces. 21 There were about five thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.