Josiah Keeps the Passover

1 ^mJosiah ⁿkept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb ^oon the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3 And he said to the Levites who ^ptaught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, ^q“Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. ^rYou need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your ^sdivisions, as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers’ household. 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and ^tconsecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by¹ Moses.”

7 Then Josiah ^ucontributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. 8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests ^vthrew the blood that they received from them while the Levites ^wflayed the sacrifices. 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. 13 And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire ^xaccording to the rule; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the ^ysons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the ^zgatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^aseven days. 18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the ^beighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

Josiah Killed in Battle

20 ^cAfter all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, ^dNeco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but ^edisguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. 23 And ^fthe archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and ^gcarried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was ^hburied in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the Lord, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Deliver Me, O Lord, from Evil Men

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his ^aface was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, ^b“Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and ^cdo not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land ^draised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the ^etrumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and ^feat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be ^gsweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

The Two Witnesses

1 Then I was given a ^hmeasuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure ⁱthe court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will ^jtrample the holy city for ^kforty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for ^l1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

4 These are ^mthe two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, ⁿfire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have ^othe power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to ^pturn them into blood and ^qto strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ^rrises from the bottomless pit^{1 s}will make war on them and ^tconquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of ^uthe great city that symbolically² is called ^vSodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the ^wpeoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days ^xa breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ^y“Come up here!” And they ^zwent up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a ^agreat earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second ^bwoe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

15 Then the seventh angel blew his ^ctrumpet, and there were ^dloud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord ^eand of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the ^ftwenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God ^gfell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

19 Then God’s temple in heaven ^lwas opened, and the ^mark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were ⁿflashes of lightning, rumblings,³ peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy ^ohail.

The Woman and the Dragon

1 And a great ^psign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red ^qdragon, with ^rseven heads and ^sten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down ^ta third of the stars of heaven and ^ucast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is ^vto rule⁴ all the nations ^wwith a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for ^x1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

7 Now war arose in heaven, ^yMichael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was ^zthrown down, ^athat ancient serpent, who is called the ^bdevil and Satan, the ^cdeceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a ^dloud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the ^eauthority of ^fhis Christ have come, for the ^gaccuser of our brothers⁵ has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have ^hconquered him by the blood of the ⁱLamb and by the word of their testimony, for ^jthey loved not their lives even ^kunto death. 12 Therefore, ^lrejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But ^mwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two ⁿwings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ^ofor a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on ^pthose who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood⁶ on the sand of the sea.