The Steadfast Love of the Lord
1 hShout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
iPraise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the jlyre;
make melody to him with jthe harp of kten strings!
3 Sing to him la new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in mfaithfulness.
5 He nloves righteousness and justice;
othe earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By pthe word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by qthe breath of his mouth all rtheir host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as sa heap;
he tputs the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For uhe spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord vbrings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 wThe counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 xBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has ychosen as his heritage!
13 The Lord zlooks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from awhere he sits enthroned he blooks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 cThe king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 dThe war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, ethe eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
fon those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may gdeliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in hfamine.
20 Our soul iwaits for the Lord;
he is our jhelp and kour shield.
21 For our heart is lglad in him,
because we mtrust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
A Rebellious People
8 And now, go, cwrite it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.1
9 dFor they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 ewho say to fthe seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us gsmooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
and trust in hoppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
ilike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is jlike that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In kreturning2 and lrest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon mhorses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 nA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
The Lord Will Be Gracious
18 Therefore the Lord owaits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he pexalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
qblessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell rin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the sbread of adversity and the swater of affliction, tyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 uAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is vthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: dBlessed are the dead ewho die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, f“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
The Harvest of the Earth
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one glike a son of man, hwith a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel icame out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, j“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for kthe harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, lthe angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, mfor its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great nwinepress of the wrath of God. 20 And othe winepress was trodden poutside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as qa horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.1
The Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
1 Then rI saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, sseven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.
2 And I saw twhat appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those uwho had conquered the beast and its image and vthe number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass wwith harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing xthe song of Moses, ythe servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
z“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
aJust and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!2
4 bWho will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are choly.
dAll nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
