Revelation 14

¹ Next in my vision I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred andforty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

² I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like thesound of harpists playing their harps.

³ There before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures andthe elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemedfrom the world.

⁴ These are the sons who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women; they fol ow theLamb wherever he goes; they, out of al people, have been redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for theLamb.

⁵ No lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be found in them.

⁶ Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to al who liveon the earth, every nation, race, language and tribe.

⁷ He was cal ing, 'Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgement;worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.'

⁸ A second angel fol owed him, cal ing, 'Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fal en, Babylon whichgave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink.'

⁹ A third angel fol owed, shouting aloud, 'Al those who worship the beast and his statue, or have hadthemselves branded on the hand or forehead,

¹⁰ wil be made to drink the wine of God's fury which is ready, undiluted, in his cup of retribution; in fireand brimstone they wil be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb

¹¹ and the smoke of their torture will rise for ever and ever. There wil be no respite, night or day, forthose who worship the beast or its statue or accept branding with its name.'

¹² This is why there must be perseverance in the saints who keep the commandments of God and faithin Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say to me, 'Write down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord!Blessed indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their work, since their good deeds go with them.'

¹⁴ Now in my vision I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on hishead and a sharp sickle in his hand.

¹⁵ Then another angel came out of the sanctuary and shouted at the top of his voice to the one sittingon the cloud, 'Ply your sickle and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.'

¹⁶ Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth, and the harvest of earth was reaped.

¹⁷ Another angel, who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the temple in heaven,

¹⁸ and the angel in charge of the fire left the altar and shouted at the top of his voice to the one with thesharp sickle, 'Put your sickle in, and harvest the bunches from the vine of the earth; al its grapes are ripe.'

¹⁹ So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and putit into a huge winepress, the winepress of God's anger,

²⁰ outside the city, where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to thehorses' bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs.