2 Chronicles 36:1-23

(1)  The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem.

(2)  Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

(3)  Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

(4)  And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

(5)  Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

(6)  Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.

(7)  Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon.

(8)  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

(9)  Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

(10)  In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the LORD, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

(11)  Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

(12)  He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.

(13)  He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.

(14)  All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

(15)  The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

(16)  But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

(17)  Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand.

(18)  And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.

(19)  And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels.

(20)  He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia,

(21)  to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

(22)  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

(23)  "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.'"

Revelation 9:1-21

(1)  And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

(2)  He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

(3)  Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.

(4)  They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

(5)  They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.

(6)  And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

(7)  In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,

(8)  their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions' teeth;

(9)  they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.

(10)  They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.

(11)  They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

(12)  The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

(13)  Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God,

(14)  saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

(15)  So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.

(16)  The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.

(17)  And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths.

(18)  By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.

(19)  For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

(20)  The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,

(21)  nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

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