The Terrible Visitation

1Blow a trumpet in Zion,

And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

For the day of the Lord is coming;

Surely it is near,

2A day of darkness and gloom,

A day of clouds and thick darkness.

As the dawn is spread over the mountains,

So there is a great and mighty people;

There has never been anything like it,

Nor will there be again after it

To the years of many generations.

3A fire consumes before them

And behind them a flame burns.

The land is like the garden of Eden before them

But a desolate wilderness behind them,

And nothing at all escapes them.

4Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like war horses, so they run.

5With a noise as of chariots

They leap on the tops of the mountains,

Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,

Like a mighty people arranged for battle.

6Before them the people are in anguish;

All faces turn pale.

7They run like mighty men,

They climb the wall like soldiers;

And they each march in line,

Nor do they deviate from their paths.

8They do not crowd each other,

They march everyone in his path;

When they burst through the defenses,

They do not break ranks.

9They rush on the city,

They run on the wall;

They climb into the houses,

They enter through the windows like a thief.

10Before them the earth quakes,

The heavens tremble,

The sun and the moon grow dark

And the stars lose their brightness.

11The Lord utters His voice before His army;

Surely His camp is very great,

For strong is he who carries out His word.

The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,

And who can endure it?

The Fifth Trumpet—the Bottomless Pit

1Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. 6And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.

7The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. 10They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. 11They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.

12The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.

The Sixth Trumpet—Army from the East

13Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. 16The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. 18A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. 19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.

20The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

1) How do locusts function as both natural plague and prophetic sign?

2) How does Revelation echo Joel’s imagery?

3) What lessons does Pharaoh’s resistance teach us about hardness?

PSALM 102

Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.

A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

1Hear my prayer, O Lord!

And let my cry for help come to You.

2Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;

Incline Your ear to me;

In the day when I call answer me quickly.

3For my days have been consumed in smoke,

And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

4My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away,

Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.

5Because of the loudness of my groaning

My bones cling to my flesh.

6I resemble a pelican of the wilderness;

I have become like an owl of the waste places.

7I lie awake,

I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

8My enemies have reproached me all day long;

Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.

9For I have eaten ashes like bread

And mingled my drink with weeping

10Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,

For You have lifted me up and cast me away.

11My days are like a lengthened shadow,

And I wither away like grass.

12But You, O Lord, abide forever,

And Your name to all generations.

13You will arise and have compassion on Zion;

For it is time to be gracious to her,

For the appointed time has come.

14Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones

And feel pity for her dust.

15So the nations will fear the name of the Lord

And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

16For the Lord has built up Zion;

He has appeared in His glory.

17He has regarded the prayer of the destitute

And has not despised their prayer.

18This will be written for the generation to come,

That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

19For He looked down from His holy height;

From heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth,

20To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To set free those who were doomed to death,

21That men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion

And His praise in Jerusalem,

22When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

23He has weakened my strength in the way;

He has shortened my days.

24I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,

Your years are throughout all generations.

25Of old You founded the earth,

And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

26Even they will perish, but You endure;

And all of them will wear out like a garment;

Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.

27But You are the same,

And Your years will not come to an end.

28The children of Your servants will continue,

And their descendants will be established before You.”

Similitudes, Instructions

1Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,

So honor is not fitting for a fool.

2Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,

So a curse without cause does not alight.

3A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

And a rod for the back of fools.

4Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

Or you will also be like him.

5Answer a fool as his folly deserves,

That he not be wise in his own eyes.

6He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence

Who sends a message by the hand of a fool.

7Like the legs which are useless to the lame,

So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

8Like one who binds a stone in a sling,

So is he who gives honor to a fool.

9Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard,

So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

10Like an archer who wounds everyone,

So is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by.

11Like a dog that returns to its vomit

Is a fool who repeats his folly.

12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

13The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

A lion is in the open square!”

14As the door turns on its hinges,

So does the sluggard on his bed.

15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes

Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.

17Like one who takes a dog by the ears

Is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.

18Like a madman who throws

Firebrands, arrows and death,

19So is the man who deceives his neighbor,

And says, “Was I not joking?”

20For lack of wood the fire goes out,

And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

21Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,

So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

22The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,

And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

23Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross

Are burning lips and a wicked heart.

24He who hates disguises it with his lips,

But he lays up deceit in his heart.

25When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,

For there are seven abominations in his heart.

26Though his hatred covers itself with guile,

His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

27He who digs a pit will fall into it,

And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

28A lying tongue hates those it crushes,

And a flattering mouth works ruin.

The Patmos Vision

9I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

17When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.