Book of Common Prayer

18 After that I saw another angel coming down from the sky. He had much power. The bright light that shone from him lit up the earth.

² He called in a loud voice and said, `The big city of Babylon has fallen down! It has fallen down! Bad spirits live in it. All bad spirits hide there. And all kinds of dirty birds that people hate hide there.

³ All the nations are broken down because they are full of its wrong ways. The kings of the earth have joined with it. The traders of the earth have become rich because of its wrong ways.'

⁴ Then I heard another voice from the sky that said, `Come out of it, my people, so that you will have no part in the wrong things it does. Come out of it so that you will not have the big troubles it will have.

⁵ Its wrong ways are piled as high as the sky and God has remembered the wrong things it has done.

⁶ Do to it what it did to you. Yes, do two times as much to it as it did to you! From the cup it gave you to drink, give it two times as much to drink as it gave to you.

⁷ It is proud of itself and has done wrong things. Give it that much trouble and crying. It says in its heart, "I am like a queen. I am not like a woman who has lost her husband. I will never know sorrow."

⁸ So then, its big troubles will come in one day. Those troubles are death, crying, hunger, and being burned in a fire. The Lord who has punished it is strong.'

⁹ `And the kings of the earth were joined with it in its wrong ways. They will cry and be sad about it when they see the smoke while it burns.

¹⁰ They will stand far away from it because they are afraid of the trouble it is having. They will say, "Trouble! Trouble! You big, strong city Babylon! In one hour your punishment has come!"

¹¹ `And the traders of the earth will cry and be sad about it, because no one buys the things they bring to sell.

¹² They have many things to sell: gold, silver, fine stones, and pearls. They have linen clothes and blue cloth, silk cloth and red cloth. They have all kinds of sweet smelling wood. They have all kinds of things made of ivory. They have all kinds of things made of wood that costs much money, of brass, of iron, and of a stone called marble.

¹³ They have spices and perfume. They have incense and a sweet-smelling oil. They have frankincense and wine and oil. They have fine flour and wheat. They have cows, sheep, horses, and wagons. They have slaves and people to sell.

¹⁴ The things that your heart wanted are gone from you. All your fine food and clothes are gone from you. You will never find them again.

14 One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat at the house of a ruler. He was a ruler of the Pharisees. They were watching Jesus.

² man stood in front of him. He was sick. His body was filled with water.

³ Jesus asked the teachers of God's law and the Pharisees, `Is it right to heal a person on the Sabbath day or not?'

⁴ They did not answer. So he took the man and healed him. Then he sent him away.

⁵ Jesus said to them, `If your horse or cow falls into a hole, which one of you will not pull him out right away on the Sabbath day?'

⁶ They could not answer that.

⁷ Jesus told a story to the people who were asked to eat at the house. He saw that they chose to sit at the best places.

⁸ He said to them, `When you are called to a wedding, do not sit in the best place. It may be that a better man than you has been called.

⁹ Then the man who called you both will come and say to you, "Get up and let this man sit here." Then you will be ashamed. And you will go and sit down in the last place.

¹⁰ But when you are asked to go to a wedding, go and sit down in the last place. Then when the man who called you comes, he will say to you, "Friend, come to a better place." Then all the people who sit at the table will see how he respects you.

¹¹ `Everyone who puts himself up in a high place will be brought down to a low place. And everyone who puts himself down in a low place will be brought up to a high place.'