The Daily Audio Bible

Visions About the Nations Around Judah

12 This is a message from the Lord about Israel. The Lord is the one who made the earth and the sky, and he put the human spirit in people. And this is what the Lord said: ² “Look, I will make Jerusalem like a cup of poison to the nations around her. The nations will come and attack that city, and all of Judah will be caught in the trap. ³ But I will make Jerusalem like a heavy rock—those who try to take it will hurt themselves. They will be cut and scratched. All the nations on earth will come together to fight against Jerusalem. ⁴ But at that time I will scare the horse, and the soldier riding it will panic. I will make all the enemy horses blind, but my eyes will be open—and I will be watching over Judah’s family. ⁵ The leaders of Judah will encourage the people and say, ‘The Lord All-Powerful is your God. He makes us strong.’ ⁶ At that time I will make the leaders of Judah like a fire burning in a forest. They will destroy their enemies like fire burning straw. They will destroy the enemy all around them, and the people in Jerusalem will again be able to sit back and relax.”

⁷ The Lord will save the people of Judah first, so the people in Jerusalem will not be able to brag too much. David’s family and the other people who live in Jerusalem will not be able to brag that they are better than the other people in Judah. ⁸ But the Lord will protect the people in Jerusalem. Even the man who trips and falls will become a great soldier like David. And the men from David’s family will be like gods—like the Lord’s own angel leading the people.

⁹ The Lord says, “At that time I will destroy the nations that came to fight against Jerusalem. ¹⁰ I will fill David’s family and the people living in Jerusalem with a spirit of kindness and mercy. They will look to me, the one they stabbed, and they will be very sad. They will be as sad as someone crying over the death of their only son, as sad as someone crying over the death of their firstborn son. ¹¹ There will be a time of great sadness and crying in Jerusalem. It will be like the time people cry over the death of Hadad Rimmon^[a] in Megiddo Valley. ¹² Each and every family will cry by itself. The men in David’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. The men in Nathan’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. ¹³ The men in Levi’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. The men in Simeon’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. ¹⁴ And the same thing will happen in all the other tribes. The men and women will cry by themselves.”

13 But at that time a new spring of water will be opened for David’s family and for the other people living in Jerusalem. That fountain will be to wash away their sins and to make the people pure.

No More False Prophets

² The Lord All-Powerful says, “At that time I will remove all the idols from the earth. People will not even remember their names, and I will remove the false prophets and unclean spirits from the earth. ³ Whoever continues to prophesy will be punished. Even their parents, their own mother and father, will say to them, ‘You have spoken lies in the name of the Lord, so you must die!’ Their own mother and father will stab them for prophesying. ⁴ At that time the prophets will be ashamed of their visions and prophecies. They will not wear the rough cloth that shows a person is a prophet. They will not wear those clothes to trick people with the lies they call prophecies. ⁵ They will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer. I have worked as a farmer since I was a little child.’ ⁶ But other people will say, ‘Then what are these wounds in your hands?’ He will say, ‘I was beaten in the house of my friends.’”

⁷ The Lord All-Powerful says, “Sword, wake up and strike the shepherd, my friend! Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will run away. And I will punish those little ones. ⁸ Two-thirds of the people in the land will be struck down and die,” says the Lord, “but one-third will survive. ⁹ Then I will test those survivors by giving them many troubles. The troubles will be like the fire a person uses to prove silver is pure. I will test them the way a person tests gold. Then they will call to me for help, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘You are my people.’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

People in Heaven Praise God

19 After this I heard what sounded like a large crowd of people in heaven. The people were saying,

³ These people also said,

⁴ Then the 24 elders and the four living beings bowed down. They worshiped God, who sits on the throne. They said,

⁵ Then a voice came from the throne and said,

⁶ Then I heard something that sounded like a large crowd of people. It was as loud as crashing waves or claps of thunder. The people were saying,

(The fine linen means the good things that God’s holy people did.)

⁹ Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Great blessings belong to those who are invited to the wedding meal of the Lamb!” Then the angel said, “These are the true words of God.”

¹⁰ Then I bowed down before the angel’s feet to worship him. But the angel said to me, “Don’t worship me! I am a servant like you and your brothers and sisters who have the truth of Jesus. So worship God! Because the truth of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

The Rider on the White Horse

¹¹ Then I saw heaven open. There before me was a white horse. The rider on the horse was called Faithful and True, because he is right in his judging and in making war. ¹² His eyes were like burning fire. He had many crowns on his head. A name was written on him, but he was the only one who knew its meaning. ¹³ He was dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and he was called the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following the rider on the white horse. They were also riding white horses. They were dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ A sharp sword came out of the rider’s mouth, a sword that he would use to defeat the nations. And he will rule the nations with a rod of iron. He will crush the grapes in the winepress of the terrible anger of God All-Powerful. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his leg was written this name:

king of kings and lord of lords

¹⁷ Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. In a loud voice the angel said to all the birds flying in the sky, “Come together for the great supper of God. ¹⁸ Come together so that you can eat the bodies of rulers and army commanders and famous men. Come to eat the bodies of the horses and their riders and the bodies of all people—free, slave, small, and great.”

¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the rulers of the earth. Their armies were gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰ But the beast was captured, and the false prophet was also captured. He was the one who did the miracles^[b] for the beast. He had used these miracles to trick those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its idol. The false prophet and the beast were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. ²¹ Their armies were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse. All the birds ate these bodies until they were full.

Wise Words for a King

31 These are the wise sayings that King Lemuel’s mother taught him:

² I prayed for a son, and you are the son I gave birth to. ³ Don’t waste your strength on women. Women destroy kings, so don’t waste yourself on them. ⁴ Lemuel, it is not wise for kings to drink wine. It is not wise for rulers to want beer. ⁵ They may drink too much and forget what the law says. Then they might take away the rights of the poor. ⁶ Give beer to people without hope. Give wine to those who are in trouble. ⁷ Let them drink to forget their troubles. Let them forget they are poor.