The Steadfast Love of the Lord
1 fShout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
gPraise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
hmake melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with iloud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
jthe earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 kBy the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 lHe gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
mhe puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 nLet all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 oThe Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
phe frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 qBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 uThe war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the veye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who whope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive xin famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our yshield.
21 For our heart is zglad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your asteadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
A Rebellious People
8 And now, go, qwrite 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 For they are a rrebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, s“Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth 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 tdespise this word
and trust in oppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is like 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 returning2 and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
uBut you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon horses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 vA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
wat 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 waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; xyou shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. yAs soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord zgive you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the 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, r“Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may srest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
The Harvest of the Earth
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, tand seated on the cloud uone like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, v“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the 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, the 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, for 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 wwinepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.1
The Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
1 Then I saw another xsign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.
2 And I saw what appeared to be a ysea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had zconquered the beast and its image and athe number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing bthe song of Moses, the servant of God, and cthe song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
dJust and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!2
4 eWho will not ffear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are gholy.
hAll nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
