I have commanded My chosen ones; I have also called My warriors, who exult in My triumph, to execute My wrath.

我吩咐我所挑出来的人；我招呼我的勇士，就是那矜夸高傲之辈，为要成就我怒中所定的。

我吩咐我所分别为圣的人，召唤我的勇士，就是我那狂喜高傲的人，为要执行我的怒气。

我吩咐我所分别为圣的人，召唤我的勇士，就是我那狂喜高傲的人，为要执行我的怒气。

我已向我拣选的士兵发出命令，我已号召我的勇士去倾倒我的烈怒，他们因我的胜利而欢喜。

我向我特选的军兵下了命令；我也呼召了我的勇士，就是我那些骄傲自夸的人，去执行我在怒气中所要作的。

为了成就我的怒气，我已吩咐我所分别出来的人，我已召唤我的勇士，就是那些为我威荣欢腾的人。

我吩咐我所挑出來的人；我招呼我的勇士－就是那矜誇高傲之輩，為要成就我怒中所定的。

我吩咐我所分別為聖的人，召喚我的勇士，就是我那狂喜高傲的人，為要執行我的怒氣。

我吩咐我所分別為聖的人，召喚我的勇士，就是我那狂喜高傲的人，為要執行我的怒氣。

我已向我揀選的士兵發出命令，我已號召我的勇士去傾倒我的烈怒，他們因我的勝利而歡喜。

我向我特選的軍兵下了命令；我也呼召了我的勇士，就是我那些驕傲自誇的人，去執行我在怒氣中所要作的。

我吩咐我那些獻身軍人；我呼召了我的勇士，我那些耀武揚威的高傲者，來執行我忿怒中所要作的。

為了成就我的怒氣，我已吩咐我所分別出來的人，我已召喚我的勇士，就是那些為我威榮歡騰的人。

我已命我所區別者、召我驕樂之傑士、以洩我忿、

主有傑士、召為執事、以洩其憤、莫不踴躍、樂奏其能。

我命我所備之人至、召我勇士、即樂我威嚴者來、代我行刑以洩我怒、

I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph.

The Lord has commanded the soldiers he prepared for battle. He has sent for them to carry out his anger against Babylon. They will be happy when he wins the battle for them.

I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.

I, the Lord, have dedicated these soldiers for this task. Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger, and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”

I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my warriors, who celebrate my triumph, to execute my wrath.

I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have also called for My warriors Who boast in My eminence, To execute My anger.

I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger— Those who rejoice in My exaltation.”

I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even my proudly exulting ones.

I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger,[ even] them that rejoice in my highness.

I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones.

I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones.

Come quickly, all you surrounding nations; gather yourselves. Bring down Your warriors there, Lord.

You are My battle club, My weapons of war. With you I will smash nations; with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.With you I will smash the horse and its rider; with you I will smash the chariot and its rider.With you I will smash man and woman; with you I will smash the old man and the youth; with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock; with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team. With you I will smash governors and officials.“ I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues.For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.Pay her back the way she also paid, and double it according to her works. In the cup in which she mixed, mix a double portion for her.As much as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, give her that much torment and grief, for she says in her heart,“ I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.”For this reason her plagues will come in one day— death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.

King Darius gave the order, and they searched in the library of Babylon in the archives.But it was in the fortress of Ecbatana in the province of Media that a scroll was found with this record written on it:In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its original foundations be retained. Its height is to be 90 feet and its width 90 feet,with three layers of cut stones and one of timber. The cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.The gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon must also be returned. They are to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem where they belong and put into the house of God.Therefore, you must stay away from that place, Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the officials in the region.Leave the construction of the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.I hereby issue a decree concerning what you must do, so that the elders of the Jews can rebuild the house of God: The cost is to be paid in full to these men out of the royal revenues from the taxes of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not stop.Whatever is needed— young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem— let it be given to them every day without fail,so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive: Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.May the God who caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who dares to harm or interfere with this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.Then Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed.So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia.This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.For the dedication of God’s house they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs, as well as 12 male goats as a sin offering for all Israel— one for each Israelite tribe.They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land in order to worship Yahweh, the God of Israel.They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king’s attitude toward them, so that he supported them in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

who says to the depths of the sea,“ Be dry,” and I will dry up your rivers;who says to Cyrus,“ My shepherd, he will fulfill all My pleasure” and says to Jerusalem,“ She will be rebuilt,” and of the temple,“ Its foundation will be laid.”

“ Go against the land of Merathaim, and against those living in Pekod. Put them to the sword; completely destroy them— this is the Lord’s declaration— do everything I have commanded you.The sound of war is in the land— a great destruction.How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and smashed! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught, but you did not even know it. You were found and captured because you fought against the Lord.The Lord opened His armory and brought out His weapons of wrath, because it is a task of the Lord God of Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.Come against her from the most distant places. Open her granaries; pile her up like mounds of grain and completely destroy her. Leave her no survivors.Put all her young bulls to the sword; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, because their day has come, the time of their punishment.“ There is a voice of fugitives and those who escape from the land of Babylon announcing in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance for His temple.Summon the archers to Babylon, all who string the bow; camp all around her; let none escape. Repay her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do the same to her, for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will perish in that day. This is the Lord’s declaration.Look, I am against you, you arrogant one— this is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts— because your day has come, the time when I will punish you.The arrogant will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. I will set fire to his cities, and it will consume everything around him.”This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed. All their captors hold them fast; they refuse to release them.Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He might bring rest to the earth but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.A sword is over the Chaldeans— this is the Lord’s declaration— against those who live in Babylon, against her officials, and against her sages.A sword is against the diviners, and they will act foolishly. A sword is against her heroic warriors, and they will be terrified.A sword is against his horses and chariots and against all the foreigners among them, and they will be like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.A drought will come on her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of carved images, and they go mad because of terrifying things.Therefore, desert creatures will live with hyenas, and ostriches will also live in her. It will never again be inhabited or lived in through all generations.Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns— this is the Lord’s declaration— so no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.Look! A people comes from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the remote regions of the earth.They grasp bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like men in battle formation against you, Daughter Babylon.The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands fall helpless. Distress has seized him— pain, like a woman in labor.“ Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.

Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of heaven: Greetings.I issue a decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who want to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.You are sent by the king and his seven counselors to evaluate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your possession.You are also to bring the silver and gold the king and his counselors have willingly given to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,and all the silver and gold you receive throughout the province of Babylon, together with the freewill offerings given by the people and the priests to the house of their God in Jerusalem.Then you are to buy with this money as many bulls, rams, and lambs as needed, along with their grain and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar at the house of your God in Jerusalem.You may do whatever seems best to you and your brothers with the rest of the silver and gold, according to the will of your God.You must deliver to the God of Jerusalem all the articles given to you for the service of the house of your God.You may use the royal treasury to pay for anything else needed for the house of your God.I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers in the region west of the Euphrates River: Whatever Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of heaven, asks of you must be provided promptly,up to 7,500 pounds of silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, 550 gallons of oil, and salt without limit.Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven must be done diligently for the house of the God of heaven, so that wrath will not fall on the realm of the king and his sons.Be advised that tribute, duty, and land tax must not be imposed on any priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.And you, Ezra, according to God’s wisdom that you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in the region west of the Euphrates who know the laws of your God and to teach anyone who does not know them.Anyone who does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, let a fair judgment be executed against him, whether death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The Lord put it into the mind of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:“ The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.Whoever is among His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.Let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”So the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites— everyone God had motivated— prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem.All their neighbors supported them with silver articles, gold, goods, livestock, and valuables, in addition to all that was given as a freewill offering.King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the house of his gods.King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out under the supervision of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.This was the inventory: 30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins, 29 silver knives,30 gold bowls, 410 various silver bowls, and 1,000 other articles.The gold and silver articles totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought all of them when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The 10 horns you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”He also said to me,“ The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.The 10 horns you saw, and the beast, will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire.For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom to the beast until God’s words are accomplished.And the woman you saw is the great city that has an empire over the kings of the earth.”

Let the godly celebrate in triumphal glory; let them shout for joy on their beds.Let the exaltation of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,inflicting vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,binding their kings with chains and their dignitaries with iron shackles,carrying out the judgment decreed against them. This honor is for all His godly people. Hallelujah!

Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints, apostles, and prophets, because God has executed your judgment on her!Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying: In this way, Babylon the great city will be thrown down violently and never be found again.The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again; no craftsman of any trade will ever be found in you again; the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again;the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of a groom and bride will never be heard in you again. All this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery,and the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on earth, was found in you.After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude in heaven, saying: Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,because His judgments are true and righteous, because He has judged the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality; and He has avenged the blood of His slaves that was on her hands.A second time they said: Hallelujah! Her smoke ascends forever and ever!Then the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who is seated on the throne, saying: Amen! Hallelujah!A voice came from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all His slaves, who fear Him, both small and great!Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying: Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, has begun to reign!Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.

I call you by your name, because of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one. I give a name to you, though you do not know Me.I am Yahweh, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know Me,

He stretched out His hand over the sea; He made kingdoms tremble. The Lord has commanded that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.

Let Israel celebrate its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.