Blessed be the man who reads them and the people who hear the messages of this prophecy read, and heed what is written in it, for the time is near.

His head and hair were as white as white wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like coals of fire;

But I hold it against you that you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching is misleading my slaves to practice immorality and to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols.

I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality.

See! I am going to lay her on a bed of sickness, and bring down to great and pressing sorrow those who practice immorality with her, unless they repent of their practices;

and I will surely strike her children dead. So all the churches will know that I am He who searches men's inmost hearts, and that I will repay each of you for exactly what you have done.

So remember what you have received and heard, and continue to obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know the hour when I come upon you.

After this I had another vision: A door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice, like a trumpet, that I had heard speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place."

When He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

they had hair that looked like women's hair; their teeth were like lions' teeth;

Then the four angels that were kept in readiness for that hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of mankind.

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works their hands had done, so as to give up worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot either see or hear or move;

And they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies looked on as spectators.

At that very hour there was a great earthquake, and one-tenth of the city went down. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were stricken with awe, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Then a great symbol was seen in heaven -- a woman clothed in the sun with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

His tail was dragging after it a third part of the stars of heaven and dashed them down upon the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth to a child, in order to devour her child as soon as it was born.

But the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and a half-time, safe from the presence of the serpent.

Then the serpent made water, like a river, spout from his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with its torrent.

So the dragon was enraged against the woman, and he went off to make war with the rest of her descendants, who continue to keep God's commands and to bear testimony to Jesus.

Here is scope for wisdom! Let anyone who has the mental keenness calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of a certain man; his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

He cried in a loud voice, "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water."

Then a second angel followed, saying: "She has fallen! Mighty Babylon has fallen, who made all the nations drink the wine of vengeance due her immorality!"

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, decorated in gold and precious stones and pearls, and she had in her hand a cup of gold, full of abominations and the impurities of her immorality.

On her forehead was written a name with a symbolical meaning, "Mighty Babylon, the mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."

I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of the martyred witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was utterly astonished,

but the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will tell you the symbolical meaning of the woman, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns, that carries her.

Here is scope for a mind that is packed with wisdom. The seven heads are the seven hills on which the woman is seated.

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet become kings, but for a single hour they accept authority as kings allied with the wild beast.

The ten horns that you saw and the wild beast will be the very ones to hate the prostitute, to make her desolate and naked, to eat up her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

because all the nations have fallen by drinking the raging wine of her immorality; the kings of the earth have joined her in her immorality, and the businessmen of the earth have grown rich from the wealth of her luxury."

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins and suffer from her plagues.

For her sins are piled clear up to heaven, and God has remembered the wrongs which she has done.

Pay her back in her own coin; give her double for what she has done. In the cup that she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.

To the same degree in which she has lived in splendor and luxury, give her torture and tears. Because she is always boasting in her heart, 'I sit enthroned as queen; I am not a widow, I shall never experience any sorrow' --

for this very reason her plagues will overtake her in a single day, death, grief, and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; because the Lord who has judged her is mighty.

The kings of the earth who have joined her in her immorality and luxury will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

They will stand a long way off for fear of her torture, saying, 'Alas! Alas for the great city, for Babylon the mighty city, because in a single day your judgment has overtaken you!'

The businessmen of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one can buy their cargoes anymore --

The businessmen who dealt in these things, who had grown rich from their business with her, will stand a long way off for fear of her torture, weeping and mourning,

because in a single hour a wealth so vast has been destroyed!' All ship pilots and all who travel by sea, sailors and seafaring men, stood a long way off

and cried out when they saw the smoke from her burning, 'What city was like the great city?'

They threw dust on their heads and wept and mourned, crying out, 'Alas! Alas for the great city where all who had ships on the sea grew rich from her great wealth! For in a single hour she has been destroyed.'

Celebrate over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets too, because God has taken vengeance on her for you."

in her has been found the blood of prophets, saints, and all who have been slaughtered on the earth."

because His judgments are true and just. Because He has passed judgment on the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and for the blood of His slaves He has taken vengeance upon her!"

A second time they shouted, "Praise the Lord! For the smoke from her continues to go up forever and ever."

Permission has been granted her to dress in clean, brilliant linen, for linen signifies the upright deeds of God's people."

And I saw the new Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride to join her husband.