The Death of Miriam
1 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of lZin in the first month, and the people stayed in mKadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there.
The Waters of Meribah
2 nNow there was ono water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together pagainst Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people qquarreled with Moses and said, r“Would that we had perished swhen our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 tWhy have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? uIt is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and vfell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord wappeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and xtell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff yfrom before the Lord, as he commanded him.
Moses Strikes the Rock
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you zrebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation adrank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, b“Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of cMeribah,1 where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he dshowed himself holy.
Edom Refuses Passage
14 eMoses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: 15 how our fathers fwent down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt ga long time. And the Egyptians hdealt harshly with us and our fathers. 16 And when we icried to the Lord, he jheard our voice and sent an kangel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 Please llet us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” 18 mBut Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” 19 And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will npay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” 20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, oso Israel turned away from him.
The Death of Aaron
22 pAnd they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. 23 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, 24 “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and qbring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 rAnd Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And sAaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel twept for Aaron thirty days.
Warning Against Adultery
1 My son, be tattentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may keep discretion,
and uyour lips may guard knowledge.
3 vFor the lips of a forbidden1 woman drip honey,
and wher speech2 is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 xHer feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to3 Sheol;
6 she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And now, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 yKeep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, “How I zhated adiscipline,
and my heart bdespised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your csprings be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated4 always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?5
21 For da man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he eponders6 all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.
Prologue
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants1 athe things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his bangel to his servant cJohn, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 dBlessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, efor the time is fnear.
Greeting to the Seven Churches
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him gwho is and who was and who is to come, and from hthe seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the ifaithful witness, jthe firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who kloves us land has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, mpriests to his God and Father, nto him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 oBehold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who ppierced him, and qall tribes of the earth will wail2 on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8 r“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Vision of the Son of Man
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was sin the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice tlike a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and usend it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw vseven golden wlampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands xone like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and ywith a golden sash around his chest. 14 zThe hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. aHis eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like bburnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was clike the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, dfrom his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and ehis face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17 When I saw him, I ffell at his feet as though dead. gBut he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, hI am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have ithe keys jof Death and Hades. 19 kWrite therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
To the Church in Ephesus
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds lthe seven stars in his right hand, mwho walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and nyou have onot grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; prepent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the qNicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 rHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the stree of life, which is in the tparadise of God.’
To the Church in Smyrna
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of uthe first and the last, who vdied and came to life.
9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are wrich) and the slander3 of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a xsynagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the ydevil is about to throw some of you into zprison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have atribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the bcrown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by cthe second death.’
To the Church in Pergamum
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp dtwo-edged sword.
13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith4 even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold ethe teaching of fBalaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to gidols and practice hsexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them iwith the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden jmanna, and I will give him a white stone, with a knew name written on the stone lthat no one knows except the one who receives it.’
To the Church in Thyatira
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, mwho has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like nburnished bronze.
19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman oJezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she prefuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and qthose who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who rsearches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only shold fast what you have tuntil I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him uI will give vauthority over the nations, 27 and whe will rule5 them xwith a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received yauthority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the zmorning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
To the Church in Sardis
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has athe seven spirits of God and bthe seven stars.
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and crepent. If you will not wake up, I will come dlike a thief, and eyou will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not fsoiled their garments, and they will walk with me in gwhite, for they are hworthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the ibook of life. I will jconfess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
To the Church in Philadelphia
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the ktrue one, who has the lkey of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have mkept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the nsynagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and obow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have ploved you. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 qI am coming soon. rHold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your scrown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will twrite on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, uthe new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own vnew name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
To the Church in Laodicea
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the wfaithful and true witness, xthe beginning of God’s creation.
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, y“I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to zbuy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself aand the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 bThose whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, cI will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, dI will grant him to esit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
