On the one hand we have here the abrogation of an earlier code because it was weak and ineffective--

If then He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since here there are already those who present the offerings in obedience to the Law,

All these died in the possession of faith. They had not received the promised blessings, but had seen them from a distance and had greeted them, and had acknowledged themselves to be foreigners and strangers here on earth;

Here the words "Yet again, once for all" denote the removal of the things which can be shaken--created things--in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

For we have no permanent city here, but we are longing for the city which is soon to be ours.

and you pay court to the one who wears the fine clothes, and say, "Sit here; this is a good place;" while to the poor man you say, "Stand there, or sit on the floor at my feet;"

In the same way also was not the notorious sinner Rahab declared to be righteous because of her actions when she welcomed the spies and hurriedly helped them to escape another way?

Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.

And if you address as your Father Him who judges impartially in accordance with each man's actions, then spend in fear the time of your stay here on earth,

Thus, for instance, Sarah obeyed Abraham, acknowledging his authority over her. And you have become Sarah's children if you do what is right and permit nothing whatever to terrify you.

The Elder to the elect lady and her children. Truly I love you all, and not I alone, but also all who know the truth,

Yet I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching leads astray My servants, so that they commit fornication and eat what has been sacrificed to idols.

I have given her time to repent, but she is determined not to repent of her fornication.

I tell you that I am about to cast her upon a bed of sickness, and I will severely afflict those who commit adultery with her, unless they repent of conduct such as hers.

Her children too shall surely die; and all the Churches shall come to know that I am He who searches into men's inmost thoughts; and to each of you I will give a requital which shall be in accordance with what your conduct has been.

After all this I looked and saw a door in Heaven standing open, and the voice that I had previously heard, which resembled the blast of a trumpet, again spoke to me and said, "Come up here, and I will show you things which are to happen in the future."

The second Woe is past; the third Woe will soon be here.

And a great marvel was seen in Heaven-- a woman who was robed with the sun and had the moon under her feet, and had also a wreath of stars round her head, was with child,

She gave birth to a son--a male child, destined before long to rule all nations with an iron scepter. But her child was caught up to God and His throne,

and the woman fled into the Desert, there to be cared for, for 1,260 days, in a place which God had prepared for her.

Then, the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman to enable her to fly away into the Desert to the place assigned her, there to be cared for, for a period of time, two periods of time, and half a period of time, beyond the reach of the serpent.

This made the Dragon furiously angry with the woman, and he went elsewhere to make war upon her other children--those who keep God's commandments and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.

If any one is eager to lead others into captivity, he must himself go into captivity. If any one is bent on killing with the sword, he must himself be killed by the sword. Here is an opportunity for endurance, and for the exercise of faith, on the part of God's people.

Here is scope for ingenuity. Let people of shrewd intelligence calculate the number of the Wild Beast; for it indicates a certain man, and his number is 666.

And another, a second angel, followed, exclaiming, "Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen--she who made all the nations drink the wine of the anger provoked by her fornication."

Here is an opportunity for endurance on the part of God's people, who carefully keep His commandments and the faith of Jesus!"

The great city was split into three parts; the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came into remembrance before God, for Him to make her drink from the wine-cup of His fierce anger.

The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."

The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and was brilliantly attired with gold and jewels and pearls. She held in her hand a cup of gold, full of abominations, and she gave filthy indications of her fornication.

And on her forehead was a name written: "I am a symbol of great Babylon, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth."

And I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her I was filled with utter astonishment.

Then the angel said to me, "Why are you so astonished? I will explain to you the secret meaning of the woman and of the seven-headed, ten-horned Wild Beast which carries her.

Here is scope for the exercise of a mind that has wisdom! The seven heads are the seven hills on which the woman sits.

And the ten horns that you have seen--and the Wild Beast--these will hate the Harlot, and they will cause her to be laid waste and will strip her bare. They will eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

For all the nations have drunk the wine of the anger provoked by her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through her excessive luxury."

Then I heard another voice from Heaven, which said, "Come out of her, My people, that you may not become partakers in her sins, nor receive a share of her plagues.

For her sins are piled up to the sky, and God has called to mind her unrighteous deeds.

Give back to her as she has given; repay her in accordance with her doings, twice as much; in the bowl that she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.

She has freely glorified herself and revelled in luxury; equally freely administer torment to her, and woe. For in her heart she boasts, saying, 'I sit enthroned as Queen: no widow am I: I shall never know sorrow.'

"For this reason calamities shall come thick upon her on a single day--death and sorrow and famine--and she shall be burned to the ground. For strong is the Lord God who has judged her.

The kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her, and have revelled in luxury, shall weep aloud and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

while they stand afar off because of their terror at her heavy punishment, and say, 'Alas, alas, thou great city, O Babylon, the mighty city! For in one short hour thy doom has come!'

And the merchants of the earth weep aloud and lament over her, because now there is no sale for their cargoes--

Those who traded in these things, who grew wealthy through her, will stand afar off, struck with terror at her punishment,

stood afar off, and cried aloud when they saw the smoke of her burning. And they said, 'What city is like this great city?'

And they threw dust upon their heads, and cried out, weeping aloud and sorrowing. 'Alas, alas,' they said, 'for this great city, in which, through her vast wealth, the owners of all the ships on the sea have grown rich; because in one short hour she has been laid waste!'

Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you saints and Apostles and Prophets; for God has taken vengeance upon her because of you."

And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of God's people and of all who had been put to death on the earth."

True and just are His judgments, because He has judged the great Harlot who was corrupting the whole earth with her fornication, and He has taken vengeance for the blood of His bondservants which her hands have shed."

And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! For her smoke ascends until the Ages of the Ages."

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