ZECHARIAH 2:1-3:10
REVELATION 12:18-13:18
PSALM 141:1-10
PROVERBS 30:18-20
ZECHARIAH 2:1-3:10
When I [Zechariah] looked around me again, I saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 " Where are you going?" I asked. He replied, " I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is." 3 Then the angel who was with me went to meet a second angel who was coming toward him. 4 The other angel said, " Hurry, and say to that young man, ` Jerusalem will someday be so full of people that it won't have room enough for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls, with all their livestock--and yet they will be safe. 5 For I, myself, will be a wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the LORD. And I will be the glory inside the city!' " 6 The LORD says, " Come away! Flee from the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds. 7 Come away! Escape to Jerusalem, you who are exiled in Babylon!" 8 " After a period of glory, the LORD Almighty sent me against the nations who oppressed you. For he said, ` Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. 9 I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.' Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me." 10 The LORD says, " Shout and rejoice, O Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you. 11 Many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the LORD Almighty sent me to you. 12 The land of Judah will be the LORD's inheritance in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. 13 Be silent before the LORD, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling."3:1 THEN the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD. Satan was there at the angel's right hand, accusing Jeshua of many things. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, " I, the LORD, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from a fire." 3 Jeshua's clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, " Take off his filthy clothes." And turning to Jeshua he said, " See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes." 5 Then I said, " Please, could he also have a clean turban on his head?" So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the LORD stood by. 6 Then the angel of the LORD spoke very solemnly to Jeshua and said, 7 " This is what the LORD Almighty says: If you follow my ways and obey my requirements, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk in and out of my presence along with these others standing here. 8 Listen to me, O Jeshua the high priest, and all you other priests. You are symbols of the good things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 Now look at the jewel I have set before Jeshua, a single stone with seven facets. I will engrave an inscription on it, says the LORD Almighty, and I will remove the sins of this land in a single day. 10 And on that day, says the LORD Almighty, each of you will invite your neighbor into your home to share your peace and prosperity."
REVELATION 12:18-13:18
Then he [the dragon] stood waiting on the shore of the sea. 13:1 AND now in my vision I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 2 This beast looked like a leopard, but it had bear's feet and a lion's mouth! And the dragon gave him his own power and throne and great authority. 3 I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery--but the fatal wound was healed! All the world marveled at this miracle and followed the beast in awe. 4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they worshiped the beast. " Is there anyone as great as the beast?" they exclaimed. " Who is able to fight against him?" 5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do what he wanted for forty-two months. 6 And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and all who live in heaven, who are his temple. 7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to overcome them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. 8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life, which belongs to the Lamb who was killed before the world was made. 9 Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand. 10 The people who are destined for prison will be arrested and taken away. Those who are destined for death will be killed. But do not be dismayed, for here is your opportunity to have endurance and faith.11 Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, and he spoke with the voice of a dragon. 12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and those who belong to this world to worship the first beast, whose death-wound had been healed. 13 He did astounding miracles, such as making fire flash down to earth from heaven while everyone was watching. 14 And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people of the world to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. 15 He was permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die. 16 He required everyone--great and small, rich and poor, slave and free--to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. 18 Wisdom is needed to understand this. Let the one who has understanding solve the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
PSALM 141:1-10
A psalm of David.
1 O LORD, I am calling to you. Please hurry!
Listen when I cry to you for help!
2 Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,
and my upraised hands as an evening offering.
3 Take control of what I say, O LORD,
and keep my lips sealed.
4 Don't let me lust for evil things;
don't let me participate in acts of wickedness.
Don't let me share in the delicacies
of those who do evil.
5 Let the godly strike me!
It will be a kindness!
If they reprove me, it is soothing medicine.
Don't let me refuse it.
But I am in constant prayer
against the wicked and their deeds.
6 When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,
they will listen to my words and find them pleasing.
7 Even as a farmer breaks up the soil and brings up rocks,
so the bones of the wicked will be scattered without a decent burial.
8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign LORD.
You are my refuge; don't let them kill me.
9 Keep me out of the traps they have set for me,
out of the snares of those who do evil.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own snares,
but let me escape.
PROVERBS 30:18-20
There are three things that amaze me--no, four things I do not understand: how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman. Equally amazing is how an adulterous woman can satisfy her sexual appetite, shrug her shoulders, and then say, " What's wrong with that?"
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