Revelation, 14

1. I was given another vision: The Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, surrounded by one hundred and forty-four thousand people who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

2. A sound reverberated in heaven like the sound of the roaring of waves or deafening thunder; it was like a chorus of singers, accompanied by their harps.

3. They sing a new song before the throne, in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a song which no one can learn except the hundred and forty-four thousand who have been taken from the earth.

4. They are those who were not defiled with women but were chaste; these are given to follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They are the first taken from humankind who are already of God and the Lamb.

5. No deceit has been found in them; they are faultless.

6. Then I saw another angel, flying high in the sky, sent to proclaim the definitive good news to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, race, language and people.

7. He cried out with a loud voice, "Give God glory and honor, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all the waters."

8. Another angel followed him, crying out, "Fallen is Babylon the great, fallen the prostitute who has made all the nations drunk with her unleashed prostitution!"

9. A third angel then followed, shouting aloud, "If anyone worships the beast or its image or has his forehead or hand branded,

10. he will also drink the wine of God's anger which has been prepared, undiluted, in the cup of his fury: he will be tortured by fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb."

11. The smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; for there is no rest, day or night, for those who worshiped the beast and its image, and for those who were branded with the mark of its name.

12. This is the time for patient endurance among the holy ones, for those who keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus.

13. I heard someone from heaven say, "Write this: Happy from now are the dead who have died in the Lord. The Spirit says: Let them rest from their labors; their good deeds go with them."

14. Then I had this vision. I saw a white cloud and the one sitting on it like a son of man, wearing a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

15. An angel came out of the sanctuary, calling loudly to the one sitting on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe."

16. He who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle at the earth and reaped the harvest.

17. Then another angel, who also had a sharp sickle, came out of the heavenly sanctuary.

18. Still another angel, the one who has charge of the altar fire, emerged and shouted to the first who held the sharp sickle, "Swing your sharp sickle and reap the bunches of the vine of the earth for they are fully ripe."

19. So the angel swung his sickle and gathered in the vintage, throwing all the grapes into the great winepress of the anger of God.

20. The grapes were trodden outside the city and blood flowed from the winepress, to the height of the horses' bridles and over an area of sixteen hundred furlongs.