Old/New Testament

False Gods and False Preachers

13 “On that day a well of water will be opened for the family of David and for the people of Jerusalem to make them clean from their sin.

² “On that day,” says the Lord of All, “I will destroy the names of the false gods from the land. They will no longer be remembered. And I will take away from the land those who tell what will happen in the future and the unclean spirit. ³ If anyone still tells what will happen in the future, his father and mother who gave birth to him will tell him, ‘You must not live, because you have lied in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who gave birth to him will kill him when he speaks false words. ⁴ On that day those who tell what will happen in the future will each be ashamed of his special dream when he speaks. He will not put on clothing made from hair to fool the people. ⁵ But he will say, ‘I am not a man who speaks for God. I am a farmer. A man sold me as a servant when I was young.’ ⁶ If someone asks him, ‘What are these sores on your back?’ he will answer, ‘They are the sores I received in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Who Saves

⁷ “Wake up, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is close to Me,” says the Lord of All. “Kill the shepherd, and the sheep will go everywhere. And I will turn My hand against the little ones. ⁸ In the whole land,” says the Lord, “two-thirds will die, but one-third will be left alive. ⁹ And I will bring the third part through the fire. I will make them pure like silver is made pure. I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

The Day of the Lord

14 A day of the Lord is coming when the things of much worth taken from you will be divided among you. ² For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. The city will be taken. The houses will be robbed. The women will be taken against their will. And half of the city will be taken away to a strange land. But the rest of the people will not be taken away from the city. ³ Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, in front of Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be divided in two from east to west by a very large valley. Half the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. ⁵ You will run away by the valley of My mountains, for it will go as far as Azel. You will run away just as you did when the earth shook in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him. ⁶ On that day there will be no light. The stars of heaven will be made dark. ⁷ It will be a special day which is known to the Lord. It will not be day or night. For when evening comes, there will be light. ⁸ On that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. Half of them will flow toward the sea in the east. The other half will flow toward the sea in the west. They will flow in summer and in winter.

⁹ The Lord will be King over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one. ¹⁰ The whole land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem will rise and stay on its land from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to where the king’s wine is made. ¹¹ People will live in it, and there will be no more curse. The people of Jerusalem will live without fear.

¹² Now this is how the Lord will punish all the people who have gone to war against Jerusalem. Their flesh will waste away while they stand on their feet. Their eyes will waste away in their faces, and their tongues will waste away in their mouths. ¹³ On that day the Lord will send much fear upon them. They will take hold of one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be raised against the hand of another. ¹⁴ Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the riches of all the nations around will be gathered, much gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵ The same kind of punishment will come upon the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle in those camps.

The Nations Worship the King

¹⁶ Then everyone who is left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go each year to worship the King, the Lord of All, and to keep the Special Supper of Tents. ¹⁷ If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of All, they will have no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of Egypt does not go up to worship, then they will have no rain. The Lord will punish them as He punishes the nations that do not go up to keep the Special Supper of Tents.

¹⁹ This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Special Supper of Tents. ²⁰ On that day, “Holy to the Lord,” will be written on the bells of the horses. And the cooking pots in the house of the Lord will be like the holy dishes in front of the altar. ²¹ Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of All. And all who come bringing gifts in worship will take some of the pots and cook in them. On that day there will no longer be one who buys and sells in the house of the Lord of All.

All Things New

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away. There was no more sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem. It was coming down out of heaven from God. It was made ready like a bride is made ready for her husband. ³ I heard a loud voice coming from heaven. It said, “See! God’s home is with men. He will live with them. They will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will be their God. ⁴ God will take away all their tears. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All the old things have passed away.” ⁵ Then the One sitting on the throne said, “See! I am making all things new. Write, for these words are true and faithful.” ⁶ Then He said to me, “These things have happened! I am the First and the Last. I am the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty, I will give the water of life. It is a free gift. ⁷ He who has power and wins will receive these things. I will be his God and he will be My son. ⁸ But those who are afraid and those who do not have faith and the sinful-minded people and those who kill other people and those who do sex sins and those who follow witchcraft and those who worship false gods and all those who tell lies will be put into the lake of fire and sulphur. This is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven jars full of the seven last troubles came to me and said, “Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ I was carried away in the Spirit by the angel to a very high mountain. He showed me the Holy City of Jerusalem. It was coming out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It was filled with the shining-greatness of God. It shone like a stone worth much money, like a jasper stone. It was clear like glass. ¹² It had a very high wall, and there were twelve gates. Twelve angels stood by the gates. The names of the twelve family groups of the Jewish nation were written on the gates. ¹³ There were three gates on each side. There were three on the east side and three on the north side and three on the south side and three on the west side. ¹⁴ The walls were on twelve stones. The names of the twelve missionaries of the Lamb were written on the stones.

¹⁵ The angel had a stick in his hand. It was used to find out how big the city and its gates and the walls were. ¹⁶ He found out that the city was as wide as it was long and it was as high as it was wide. It was as long as a man could walk in fifty days. It was the same each way. ¹⁷ The angel found out that the walls were the same as a man taking seventy-two long steps. The angel used the same way to find out about the city as a man would have used. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold. This gold was as clear as glass. ¹⁹ The city was built on every kind of stone that was worth much money. The first stone was jasper. The second was sapphire. The third was chalcedony. The fourth was emerald. ²⁰ The fifth was sardonyx. The sixth was sardius. The seventh was chrysolite. The eighth was beryl. The ninth was topaz. The tenth was chrysoprase. The eleventh was jacinth and the twelfth was amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each gate was made from one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold. It was as clear as glass.

²² I did not see a house of God in the city. The All-powerful Lord God and the Lamb are the house of God in this city. ²³ There is no need for the sun and moon to shine in the city. The shining-greatness of God makes it full of light. The Lamb is its light. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light. The kings of the earth will bring their greatness into it. ²⁵ The gates are open all day. They will never be shut. There will be no night there. ²⁶ The greatness and honor of all the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing sinful will go into the city. No one who is sinful-minded or tells lies can go in. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can go in.