The Two Witnesses

¹Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there.

²But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

³And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

⁵If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed.

⁶These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

The Witnesses Killed and Raised

⁷When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them.

⁸Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified.

⁹For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb.

¹⁰And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.

¹¹But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them.

¹²And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.

¹³And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven:“The kingdom of the worldhas become the kingdom of our Lordand of His Christ,and He will reign forever and ever.”

¹⁶And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,

¹⁷saying:“We give thanks to You, O Lord God Almighty,the One who is and who was,because You have taken Your great powerand have begun to reign.

¹⁸The nations were enraged,and Your wrath has come.The time has come to judge the deadand to reward Your servants the prophets,as well as the saints and those who fear Your name,both small and great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

The Dispute over Circumcision

¹Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

³Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.

⁴On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them.

The Council at Jerusalem

⁵But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”

⁶So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.

⁷After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

⁸And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.

⁹He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹²The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

¹³When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to me!

¹⁴Simonhas told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.

¹⁵The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

¹⁶‘After this I will return and rebuildthe fallen tent of David.Its ruins I will rebuild,and I will restore it,

¹⁷so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,says the Lord who does these things

¹⁸that have been known for ages.’

¹⁹It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

²⁰Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

²¹For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

The Letter to the Gentile Believers

²²Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers,

²³and sent them with this letter:The apostles and the elders, your brothers,To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:Greetings.

²⁴It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled you, troubling your minds by what they said.

²⁵So we all agreed to choose men to send to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you in person the same things we are writing.

²⁸It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements:

²⁹You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.Farewell.

The Believers at Antioch Rejoice

³⁰So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter.

³¹When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message.

³²Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers in peace to return to those who had sent them.

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained at Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.

Paul’s Second Missionary Journey Begins

³⁶Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark.

³⁸But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

³⁹Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹And he traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

The Lamb and the 144,000

¹Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

²And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of many waters and the loud rumbling of thunder. And the sound I heard was like harpists strumming their harps.

³And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

⁴These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

⁵And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

The Three Angels and Babylon’s Fall

⁶Then I saw another angel flying overhead, with the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.

⁷And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.”

⁸Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

⁹And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on his forehead or on his hand,

¹⁰he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

¹¹And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

¹²Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.”“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

The Harvest of the Earth

¹⁴And I looked and saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was One like the Son of Man,with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.

¹⁵Then another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud, “Swing Your sickle and reap, because the time has come to harvest, for the crop of the earth is ripe.”

¹⁶So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

²⁰And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

In the LORD I Take Refuge

¹In the LORD I take refuge.How then can you say to me:“Flee like a bird to your mountain!

²For behold, the wicked bend their bows.They set their arrow on the stringto shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

³If the foundations are destroyed,what can the righteous do?”

⁴The LORD is in His holy temple;the LORD is on His heavenly throne.His eyes are watching closely;they examine the sons of men.

⁵The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked;His soul hates the lover of violence.

⁶On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur;a scorching wind will be their portion.

⁷For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice.The upright will see His face.