Book of Common Prayer

The song of the 144,000

14  Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on a hill called Zion. With him were one hundred and forty-four thousand people. They had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

² I heard a sound from the sky like the sound of much water flowing, and like the sound of much thunder. The sound I heard was like people playing music on their harps.

³ They were singing a new song in front of God's chief chair, in front of the four living beings and the leaders. No one could learn that song but the one hundred and forty-four thousand people. They have been bought from the earth.

⁴ They are the people who have not had sex with women. They are clean. They are the people who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They lived among people on earth. They have been bought from the earth. They are the first among men to have been bought for God and the Lamb.

⁵ They never told lies. They are found to be without any wrong ways as they stand before the throne of God.

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying across the sky. He had good news that will last for ever to tell the people who live on the earth. The good news is for every country, tribe, language, and nation.

⁷ He said in a loud voice, `Respect and honour God and give him glory! The time has come for him to judge people, to tell them how good or bad they are. Worship him. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and the rivers.'

⁸ A second angel followed him. He said, `The great city of Babylon has fallen down. It has fallen down because it filled all the countries with its wrong ways. It has made people to suffer God's anger.'

^9-10 A third angel followed the other two. He said in a loud voice, `Any person who worships the beast or its idol, and takes its mark on his forehead or on his hand, will also feel God's anger. He is very angry. That person will be burned with fire and dust that chokes people when it burns. He will be burned in front of the holy angels and the Lamb.

¹¹ The smoke of that fire goes up for ever and ever. Those who worship the animal and its idol, and anyone who takes the mark of its name, will get no rest day or night.'

¹² This is why God's people must be patient. They are the ones who keep the laws of God and believe in Jesus.

¹³ I heard a voice from the sky. It said, `Write this: From now on, happy are those who die believing in the Lord.' `Yes,' says the Spirit. `They will have rest from their troubles. The good things they have done will go with them.'

⁴⁹ `I came to start a fire on the earth. I wish the fire were already burning!

⁵⁰ I will be going through a big trouble, and I feel like a prisoner until it is all over.

⁵¹ Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? I tell you, "No". I came to take away peace.

⁵² From now, if there are five in a family, they will be against each other. Three of them will be against the other two. And two of them will be against the other three.

⁵³ A father will be against his son, and the son will be against his father. The mother will be against her daughter, and the daughter will be against her mother. A man's mother will be against his wife, and his wife will be against his mother.'

⁵⁴ Jesus also said to the people, `When you see a cloud coming up in the west, you say right away, "Rain is coming." And it comes.

⁵⁵ When the wind is blowing from the south, you say, "It will be very hot." And it is.

⁵⁶ You are not true to yourselves! You know the meaning of these signs in the earth and sky. But you do not know the meaning of the signs about the time in which we are living.'

⁵⁷ `Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸ If someone wants to take you to court, make an agreement with him quickly on the way. If you do not, he will take you to the judge. The judge will give you to the guard, and the guard will put you in prison.

⁵⁹ I tell you, you will not get out of prison until you have paid up every piece of money.'