The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy
1 “At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”
2 Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
3 the Lord appeared to him1 from far away.
I have tloved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
5 Again you shall uplant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.
6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
‘Arise, and vlet us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’”
7 For thus says the Lord:
“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
8 Behold, I will bring them wfrom the north country
and xgather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
9 yWith weeping they shall come,
and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for zI am a father to Israel,
and aEphraim is my firstborn.
10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him bas a shepherd keeps his flock.’
11 For the Lord chas ransomed Jacob
and has dredeemed him from hands too strong for him.
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be elike a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into fjoy;
I will gcomfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”
15 Thus says the Lord:
h“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because ithey are no more.”
16 Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is jhope for your future,
declares the Lord,
and your children shall come back to their own country.
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes:
“‘The Lord bless you, O mhabitation of righteousness,
O holy hill!’
24 And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
27 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to npluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:
o“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But peveryone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
The New Covenant
31 q“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ra new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I smade with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their thusband, declares the Lord. 33 For uthis is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will vput my law wwithin them, and I will write it on their hearts. And xI will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, y‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will zforgive their iniquity, and aI will bremember their sin no more.”
The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven pangels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful qsores came upon the people who bore rthe mark of the beast and sworshiped its image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it tbecame like the blood of a corpse, and uevery living thing died that was in the sea.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters1 say,
“Just are you, O vHoly One, wwho is and who was,
for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the xblood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard the yaltar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
ztrue and just are your judgments!”
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed2 the name of God who had power over these plagues. They adid not repent and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on bthe throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into cdarkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, dand its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of ethe dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of fthe false prophet, three unclean spirits like gfrogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, hperforming signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to iassemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming jlike a thief! Blessed is the one who kstays awake, lkeeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The Seventh Bowl
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a mloud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, n“It is done!” 18 And there were oflashes of lightning, rumblings,3 peals of thunder, and a pgreat earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 qThe great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and rGod remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the scup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And tevery island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great uhailstones, about one hundred pounds4 each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the vplague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
Jesus Delivered to Pilate
1 cWhen morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
Judas Hangs Himself
3 dThen when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus1 was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the ethirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not flawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was gfulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, h“And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for ithe potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
