He will level the high mountains and hills,

every high tower, and the walls of every fortress.

The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Streams of water will flow through the desert;

the burning sand will become a lake, and dry land will be filled with springs. Where jackals used to live, marsh grass and reeds will grow.

I will make rivers flow among barren hills and springs of water run in the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the dry land into flowing springs.

I will make cedars grow in the desert, and acacias and myrtles and olive trees. Forests will grow in barren land, forests of pine and juniper and cypress.

Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already---you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there.

Even the wild animals will honor me; jackals and ostriches will praise me when I make rivers flow in the desert to give water to my chosen people.

"I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your children and my blessing on your descendants.

They will thrive like well-watered grass, like willows by streams of running water.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "I will take the top of a tall cedar and break off a tender sprout; I will plant it on a high mountain,

I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures.

"I will bless them and let them live around my sacred hill. There I will bless them with showers of rain when they need it.

whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, 'Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.' "

The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb

The LORD is angry with all the nations and all their armies. He has condemned them to destruction.

The sun, moon, and stars will crumble to dust. The sky will disappear like a scroll being rolled up, and the stars will fall like leaves dropping from a vine or a fig tree.

His sword will be covered with their blood and fat, like the blood and fat of lambs and goats that are sacrificed. The LORD will offer this sacrifice in the city of Bozrah; he will make this a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

This is the time when the LORD will rescue Zion and take vengeance on her enemies.

It will burn day and night, and smoke will rise from it forever. The land will lie waste age after age, and no one will ever travel through it again.

An angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead!

"Who is this coming from the city of Bozrah in Edom? Who is this so splendidly dressed in red, marching along in power and strength?" It is the LORD, powerful to save, coming to announce his victory.

The LORD answers, "I have trampled the nations like grapes, and no one came to help me. I trampled them in my anger, and their blood has stained all my clothing.

I was amazed when I looked and saw that there was no one to help me. But my anger made me strong, and I won the victory myself.

The Sovereign LORD said to me, "Mortal man, call all the birds and animals to come from all around to eat the sacrifice I am preparing for them. It will be a huge feast on the mountains of Israel, where they can eat meat and drink blood.

When I kill these people like sacrifices, the birds and animals are to eat all the fat they can hold and to drink blood until they are drunk.

Then I heard a loud voice speaking from the temple to the seven angels: "Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's anger on the earth!"

Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. The water became like the blood of a dead person, and every living creature in the sea died.

I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "The judgments you have made are just, O Holy One, you who are and who were!

Then I heard a voice from the altar saying, "Lord God Almighty! True and just indeed are your judgments!"

They were burned by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God, who has authority over these plagues. But they would not turn from their sins and praise his greatness.

and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not turn from their evil ways.

Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs. They were coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet.

"Listen! I am coming like a thief ! Happy is he who stays awake and guards his clothes, so that he will not walk around naked and be ashamed in public!"

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl in the air. A loud voice came from the throne in the temple, saying, "It is done!"

The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of all countries were destroyed. God remembered great Babylon and made her drink the wine from his cup---the wine of his furious anger.

Even the palace will be abandoned and the capital city totally deserted. Homes and the forts that guarded them will be in ruins forever. Wild donkeys will roam there, and sheep will find pasture there.

All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!

The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;