Unlocking Revelation

Psalm 140

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

  ¹ Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;
   protect me from the violent,
  ² who devise evil plans in their hearts
   and stir up war every day.
  ³ They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
   the poison of vipers is on their lips.

  ⁴ Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
   protect me from the violent,
   who devise ways to trip my feet.
  ⁵ The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
   they have spread out the cords of their net
   and have set traps for me along my path.

Prologue

1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ² who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. ³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Greetings and Doxology

⁴ John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father —to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

  ⁷ “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
   and “every eye will see him,
  even those who pierced him”;
   and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
    So shall it be! Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

John’s Vision of Christ

⁹ I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹ which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

¹² I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

¹⁹ “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. ²⁰ The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

9 A prophecy:

  The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak
   and will come to rest on Damascus —
  for the eyes of all people and all the tribes of Israel
   are on the Lord—
  ² and on Hamath too, which borders on it,
   and on Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful.
  ³ Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
   she has heaped up silver like dust,
   and gold like the dirt of the streets.
  ⁴ But the Lord will take away her possessions
   and destroy her power on the sea,
   and she will be consumed by fire.
  ⁵ Ashkelon will see it and fear;
   Gaza will writhe in agony,
   and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
  Gaza will lose her king
   and Ashkelon will be deserted.
  ⁶ A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
   and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.
  ⁷ I will take the blood from their mouths,
   the forbidden food from between their teeth.
  Those who are left will belong to our God
   and become a clan in Judah,
   and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
  ⁸ But I will encamp at my temple
   to guard it against marauding forces.
  Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
   for now I am keeping watch.

The Coming of Zion’s King

  ⁹ Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
   Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
  See, your king comes to you,
   righteous and victorious,
  lowly and riding on a donkey,
   on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  ¹⁰ I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
   and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
   and the battle bow will be broken.
  He will proclaim peace to the nations.
   His rule will extend from sea to sea
   and from the River to the ends of the earth.
  ¹¹ As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
   I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
  ¹² Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
   even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
  ¹³ I will bend Judah as I bend my bow
   and fill it with Ephraim.
  I will rouse your sons, Zion,
   against your sons, Greece,
   and make you like a warrior’s sword.

The Lord Will Appear

  ¹⁴ Then the Lord will appear over them;
   his arrow will flash like lightning.
  The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;
   he will march in the storms of the south,
   ¹⁵ and the Lord Almighty will shield them.
  They will destroy
   and overcome with slingstones.
  They will drink and roar as with wine;
   they will be full like a bowl
   used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.
  ¹⁶ The Lord their God will save his people on that day
   as a shepherd saves his flock.
  They will sparkle in his land
   like jewels in a crown.
  ¹⁷ How attractive and beautiful they will be!
   Grain will make the young men thrive,
   and new wine the young women.

The Lord Will Care for Judah

  10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
   it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
  He gives showers of rain to all people,
   and plants of the field to everyone.
  ² The idols speak deceitfully,
   diviners see visions that lie;
  they tell dreams that are false,
   they give comfort in vain.
  Therefore the people wander like sheep
   oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

  ³ “My anger burns against the shepherds,
   and I will punish the leaders;
  for the Lord Almighty will care
   for his flock, the people of Judah,
   and make them like a proud horse in battle.
  ⁴ From Judah will come the cornerstone,
   from him the tent peg,
  from him the battle bow,
   from him every ruler.
  ⁵ Together they will be like warriors in battle
   trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.
  They will fight because the Lord is with them,
   and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.

  ⁶ “I will strengthen Judah
   and save the tribes of Joseph.
  I will restore them
   because I have compassion on them.
  They will be as though
   I had not rejected them,
  for I am the Lord their God
   and I will answer them.
  ⁷ The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
   and their hearts will be glad as with wine.
  Their children will see it and be joyful;
   their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
  ⁸ I will signal for them
   and gather them in.
  Surely I will redeem them;
   they will be as numerous as before.
  ⁹ Though I scatter them among the peoples,
   yet in distant lands they will remember me.
  They and their children will survive,
   and they will return.
  ¹⁰ I will bring them back from Egypt
   and gather them from Assyria.
  I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,
   and there will not be room enough for them.
  ¹¹ They will pass through the sea of trouble;
   the surging sea will be subdued
   and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
  Assyria’s pride will be brought down
   and Egypt’s scepter will pass away.
  ¹² I will strengthen them in the Lord
   and in his name they will live securely, ”
    declares the Lord.

  11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
   so that fire may devour your cedars!
  ² Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
   the stately trees are ruined!
  Wail, oaks of Bashan;
   the dense forest has been cut down!
  ³ Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
   their rich pastures are destroyed!
  Listen to the roar of the lions;
   the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

Two Shepherds

⁴ This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. ⁵ Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them. ⁶ For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbours and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”

⁷ So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favour and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them ⁹ and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”

¹⁰ Then I took my staff called Favour and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹² I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.

  ¹⁷ “Woe to the worthless shepherd,
   who deserts the flock!
  May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
   May his arm be completely withered,
   his right eye totally blinded!”