We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.
Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.
For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard!
I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.
“After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The animal also had four heads; and dominion was given to it.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there was a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet.
It was different from all the animals that were before it. It had ten horns. “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
“I watched until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set. The books were opened.
“I watched at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke. I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the animals, their dominion was taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that which will not be destroyed.
He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the sky, “Come!
Be gathered together to the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, small and great.”
I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army.
The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came out of his mouth.
So all the birds were filled with their flesh.
I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
The children of Israel who had returned out of the captivity, and all who had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy;
because Yahweh had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them,
to strengthen their hands in the work of God, the God of Israel’s house.
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes ◆ king of Persia,
Ezra
the son of Seraiah ◆ , the son of Azariah ◆ ,
the son of Hilkiah ◆ ,