The Daily Audio Bible
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Third Vision: The Man with a Measuring Line
2 [a]I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.(A) 2 Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”(B) 3 Then the angel who spoke with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like unwalled villages because of the multitude of people and animals in it.(C) 5 For I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.”(D)
Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles
6 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.(E) 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who live with daughter Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.[b](F) 9 For I am going to raise[c] my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.(G) 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord.(H) 11 Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.(I)
13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.(J)
Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan
3 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord and the accuser[d] standing at his right hand to accuse him.(K) 2 And the Lord said to the accuser,[e] “The Lord rebuke you, O accuser![f] The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?”(L) 3 Now Joshua was wearing filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel[g] said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.”(M) 5 And he said,[h] “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with apparel, and the angel of the Lord was standing by.(N)
6 Then the angel of the Lord warned Joshua, saying 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.(O) 8 Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch.(P) 9 For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day.(Q) 10 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.”(R)
13 1
5 The beast was given a mouth speaking arrogant and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.(E) 6 It opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also, it was allowed to wage war on the saints and to conquer them.[b] It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation,(F) 8 and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.[c](G)
9 Let anyone who has an ear listen:
10 If you are to be taken captive,
into captivity you go;
if you kill with the sword,
with the sword you must be killed.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.(H)
The Second Beast
11 Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound[d] had been healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all,(I) 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword[e] and yet lived,(J) 15 and it was allowed to give breath[f] to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be given a brand on the right hand or the forehead,(K) 17 so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the brand, that is, the name of the beast or the number for its name.(L) 18 This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number for a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.[g](M)
Psalm 141
Prayer for Preservation from Evil
A Psalm of David.
1 I call upon you, O Lord; come quickly to me;
give ear to my voice when I call to you.(A)
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you
and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.(B)
3 Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not turn my heart to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with those who work iniquity;
do not let me eat of their delicacies.(C)
5 Let the righteous strike me;
let the faithful correct me.
Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head,[a]
for my prayer is continually[b] against their wicked deeds.(D)
6 When they are given over to those who shall condemn them,
then they shall learn that my words were pleasant.
7 Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters on the land,
so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.[c](E)
18 Three things are too wonderful for me;
four I do not understand:
19 the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a woman.
20 This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I have done no wrong.”(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.