Book of Common Prayer
—and are ordered to pour out the bowls of his wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the Temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out upon the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God!”
The first bowl: Ulcers
2 The first angel went off and emptied his bowl upon the earth. Whereupon loathsome and malignant ulcers attacked all those who bore the mark of the animal and worshipped its statue.
The second bowl: Death in the sea
3 The second angel emptied his bowl into the sea, which turned into a fluid like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing in it died.
The third bowl: Water becomes blood
4-6 Then the third angel emptied his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned into blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, “You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be, because you have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.”
7 And I heard the altar say, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”
The fourth bowl: Scorching heat
8-9 The fourth angel emptied his bowl over the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch men in its fiery blaze. Then men were terribly burned in the heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has control over these afflictions; but they neither repented nor gave him glory.
The fifth bowl: The plague of darkness
10-11 Then the fifth angel emptied his bowl upon the throne of the animal. Its kingdom was plunged into darkness; men gnawed their tongues in agony, cursed the God of Heaven for their pain and their ulcers, but refused to repent of what they had done.
Jesus reduces the sabbatarians to silence
10-12 It happened that he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. In the congregation was a woman who for eighteen years had been ill from some psychological cause; she was bent double and was quite unable to straighten herself up. When Jesus noticed her, he called her and said, “You are set free from your illness!”
13-14 And he put his hands upon her, and at once she stood upright and praised God. But the president of the synagogue, in his annoyance at Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath, announced to the congregation, “There are six days in which men may work. Come on one of them and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!”
15-16 But the Lord answered him, saying, “You hypocrites, every single one of you unties his ox or his ass from the stall on the Sabbath day and leads him away to water! This woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom you all know Satan has kept bound for eighteen years—surely she should be released from such bonds on the Sabbath day!”
17 These words reduced his opponents to shame, but the crowd was thrilled at all the glorious things he did.
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.