Babylon Is Fallen

¹After this I saw another angel descending from heaven with great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory.

²And he cried out in a mighty voice:“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!She has become a lair for demonsand a haunt for every unclean spirit,every unclean bird,and every detestable beast.

³All the nations have drunkthe wineof the passion of her immorality.The kings of the earth were immoral with her,and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthyfrom the extravagance of her luxury.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven say:“Come out of her, My people,so that you will not share in her sinsor contract any of her plagues.

⁵For her sins are piled up to heaven,and God has remembered her iniquities.

⁶Give back to her as she has done to others;pay her back double for what she has done;mix her a double portion in her own cup.

⁷As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury,give her the same measure of torment and grief.In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen;I am not a widow and will never see grief.’

⁸Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire,for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

Lament over Babylon

⁹Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.

¹⁰In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out:“Woe, woe to the great city,the mighty city of Babylon!For in a single houryour judgment has come.”

¹¹And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—

¹²cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;

¹³of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

¹⁴And they will say:“The fruit of your soul’s desirehas departed from you;all your luxury and splendor have vanished,never to be seen again.”

¹⁵The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand at a distance, in fear of her torment. They will weep and mourn,

¹⁶saying:“Woe, woe to the great city,clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet,adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!

¹⁷For in a single hoursuch fabulous wealth has been destroyed!”Every shipmaster, passenger, and sailor, and all who make their living from the sea, will stand at a distance

¹⁸and cry out at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her. “What city was ever like this great city?” they will exclaim.

¹⁹Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out:“Woe, woe to the great city,where all who had ships on the seawere enriched by her wealth!For in a single hourshe has been destroyed.”

²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven,and you saints and apostles and prophets,because God has pronounced for youHis judgment against her.

The Doom of Babylon

²¹Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying:“With such violencethe great city of Babylon will be cast down,never to be seen again.

²²And the sound of harpists and musicians,of flute players and trumpeters,will never ring out in you again.Nor will any craftsmen of any tradebe found in you again,nor the sound of a millstonebe heard in you again.

²³The light of a lampwill never shine in you again,and the voices of a bride and bridegroomwill never call out in you again.For your merchants were the great ones of the earth,because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”

²⁴And there was found in her the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who had been slain on the earth.

The Woman on the Beast

¹Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

²The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”

³And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

⁵And on her forehead a mysterious name was written:BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The Mystery Explained

⁶I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.

⁷“Why are you so amazed?” said the angel. “I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.

⁸The beast that you saw—it was, and now is no more, but is about to come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. And those who dwell on the earth whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet will be.

⁹This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

¹⁰There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. But when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.

¹¹The beast that was, and now is not, is an eighth king, who belongs to the other seven and is going into destruction.

¹²The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive one hour of authority as kings along with the beast.

¹³These kings have one purpose: to yield their power and authority to the beast.

The Victory of the Lamb

¹⁴They will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will triumph over them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and He will be accompanied by His called and chosen and faithful ones.”

¹⁵Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

¹⁶And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by uniting to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

¹⁸And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

The Resurrection of Christ

¹Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.

²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

⁴that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

⁵and that He appeared to Cephasand then to the Twelve.

⁶After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

⁷Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

⁸And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

¹¹Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹²But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.

¹⁵In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.

¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.

¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

¹⁹If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.

The Order of Resurrection

²⁰But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

²³But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him.

²⁴Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power.

²⁵For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

²⁷For “God has put everything under His feet.”Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One who put everything under Him.

²⁸And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all.

²⁹If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

³⁰And why do we endanger ourselves every hour?

³¹I face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

³²If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised,“Let us eat and drink,for tomorrow we die.”

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

³⁴Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”

³⁶You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

³⁷And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.

³⁸But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.

³⁹Not all flesh is the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another.

⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one degree, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another.

⁴¹The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴²So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable.

⁴³It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”;the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

⁴⁶The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.

⁴⁸As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

⁴⁹And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.

Where, O Death, Is Your Victory?

⁵⁰Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—

⁵²in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

⁵³For the perishable must be clothedwith the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality,then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵“Where, O Death, is your victory?Where, O Death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

The LORD Is My Strength

¹To You, O LORD, I call;be not deaf to me, O my Rock.For if You remain silent,I will be like those descending to the Pit.

²Hear my cry for mercywhen I call to You for help,when I lift up my handstoward Your holy sanctuary.

³Do not drag me away with the wicked,and with the workers of iniquity,who speak peace to their neighborswhile malice is in their hearts.

⁴Repay them according to their deedsand for their works of evil.Repay them for what their hands have done;bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵Since they show no regard for the works of the LORDor what His hands have done,He will tear them downand never rebuild them.

⁶Blessed be the LORD,for He has heard my cry for mercy.

⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield;my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.Therefore my heart rejoices,and I give thanks to Him with my song.

⁸The LORD is the strength of His people,a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.

⁹Save Your people and bless Your inheritance;shepherd them and carry them forever.