²The first angel left and poured out his bowl on the land. Then ugly and painful sores came upon all those who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his idol.

³The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵Then I heard the angel of the waters saying:

“Holy One, you are the One who is and who was.

You are right to decide to punish these evil people.

⁶They have poured out the blood of your holy people and your prophets.

So now you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

⁷And I heard a voice coming from the altar saying:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty,

the way you punish evil people is right and fair.”

⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and he was given power to burn the people with fire. ⁹They were burned by the great heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these disasters. But the people refused to change their hearts and lives and give glory to God.

¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and darkness covered its kingdom. People gnawed their tongues because of the pain. ¹¹They also cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and the sores they had, but they refused to change their hearts and turn away from the evil things they did.

¹²The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates so that the water in the river was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east to come. ¹³Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴These evil spirits are the spirits of demons, which have power to do miracles. They go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵“Listen! I will come as a thief comes! Blessed are those who stay awake and keep their clothes on so that they will not walk around naked and have people see their shame.”

¹⁶Then the evil spirits gathered the kings together to the place that is called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.

¹⁷The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is finished!” ¹⁸Then there were flashes of lightning, noises, thunder, and a big earthquake—the worst earthquake that has ever happened since people have been on earth. ¹⁹The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations were destroyed. And God remembered the sins of Babylon the Great, so he gave that city the cup filled with the wine of his terrible anger. ²⁰Then every island ran away, and mountains disappeared. ²¹Giant hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky upon people. People cursed God for the disaster of the hail, because this disaster was so terrible.

The Woman on the Animal

17Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. He said, “Come, and I will show you the punishment that will be given to the great prostitute, the one sitting over many waters. ²The kings of the earth sinned sexually with her, and the people of the earth became drunk from the wine of her sexual sin.”

³Then the angel carried me away by the Spirit to the desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a red beast. It was covered with names against God written on it, and it had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴The woman was dressed in purple and red and was shining with the gold, precious jewels, and pearls she was wearing. She had a golden cup in her hand, a cup filled with evil things and the uncleanness of her sexual sin. ⁵On her forehead a title was written that was secret. This is what was written:

⁶Then I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people and with the blood of those who were killed because of their faith in Jesus.

When I saw the woman, I was very amazed. ⁷Then the angel said to me, “Why are you amazed? I will tell you the secret of this woman and the beast she rides—the one with seven heads and ten horns. ⁸The beast you saw was once alive but is not alive now. But soon it will come up out of the bottomless pit and go away to be destroyed. There are people who live on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life since the beginning of the world. They will be amazed when they see the beast, because he was once alive, is not alive now, but will come again.

⁹“You need a wise mind to understand this. The seven heads on the beast are seven mountains where the woman sits. ¹⁰And they are seven kings. Five of the kings have already been destroyed, one of the kings lives now, and another has not yet come. When he comes, he must stay a short time. ¹¹The beast that was once alive, but is not alive now, is also an eighth king. He belongs to the first seven kings, and he will go away to be destroyed.

¹²“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet begun to rule, but they will receive power to rule with the beast for one hour. ¹³All ten of these kings have the same purpose, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. He will defeat them with his called, chosen, and faithful followers.”

¹⁵Then the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, races, nations, and languages. ¹⁶The ten horns and the beast you saw will hate the prostitute. They will take everything she has and leave her naked. They will eat her body and burn her with fire. ¹⁷God made the ten horns want to carry out his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until what God has said comes about. ¹⁸The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

Babylon Is Destroyed

18After the vision of these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. This angel had great power, and his glory made the earth bright. ²He shouted in a powerful voice:

“Ruined, ruined is the great city of Babylon!

She has become a home for demons

and a prison for every evil spirit,

and a prison for every unclean bird and unclean beast.

³She has been ruined, because all the peoples of the earth

have drunk the wine of the desire of her sexual sin.

She has been ruined also because the kings of the earth

have sinned sexually with her,

and the merchants of the earth

have grown rich from the great wealth of her luxury.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying:

“Come out of that city, my people,

so that you will not share in her sins,

so that you will not receive the disasters that will come to her.

⁵Her sins have piled up as high as the sky,

and God has not forgotten the wrongs she has done.

⁶Give that city the same as she gave to others.

Pay her back twice as much as she did.

Prepare wine for her that is twice as strong

as the wine she prepared for others.

⁷She gave herself much glory and rich living.

Give her that much suffering and sadness.

She says to herself, ‘I am a queen sitting on my throne.

I am not a widow; I will never be sad.’

⁸So these disasters will come to her in one day:

death, and crying, and great hunger,

and she will be destroyed by fire,

because the Lord God who judges her is powerful.”

⁹The kings of the earth who sinned sexually with her and shared her wealth will see the smoke from her burning. Then they will cry and be sad because of her death. ¹⁰They will be afraid of her suffering and stand far away and say:

“Terrible! How terrible for you, great city,

powerful city of Babylon,

because your punishment has come in one hour!”

¹¹And the merchants of the earth will cry and be sad about her, because now there is no one to buy their cargoes—¹²cargoes of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, red cloth; all kinds of citron wood and all kinds of things made from ivory, expensive wood, bronze, iron, and marble; ¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, carriages, slaves, and human lives.

¹⁴The merchants will say,

“Babylon, the good things you wanted are gone from you.

All your rich and fancy things have disappeared.

You will never have them again.”

¹⁵The merchants who became rich from selling to her will be afraid of her suffering and will stand far away. They will cry and be sad ¹⁶and say:

“Terrible! How terrible for the great city!

She was dressed in fine linen, purple and red cloth,

and she was shining with gold, precious jewels, and pearls!

¹⁷All these riches have been destroyed in one hour!”

Every sea captain, every passenger, the sailors, and all those who earn their living from the sea stood far away from Babylon. ¹⁸As they saw the smoke from her burning, they cried out loudly, “There was never a city like this great city!” ¹⁹And they threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and being sad. They said:

“Terrible! How terrible for the great city!

All the people who had ships on the sea

became rich because of her wealth!

But she has been destroyed in one hour!

²⁰Be happy because of this, heaven!

Be happy, God’s holy people and apostles and prophets!

God has punished her because of what she did to you.”

²¹Then a powerful angel picked up a large stone, like one used for grinding grain, and threw it into the sea. He said:

“In the same way, the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,

and it will never be found again.

²²The music of people playing harps and other instruments, flutes, and trumpets,

will never be heard in you again.

No workman doing any job

will ever be found in you again.

The sound of grinding grain

will never be heard in you again.

²³The light of a lamp

will never shine in you again,

and the voices of a…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Revelation 16–18 in Logos