World English Bible · Under Rome
Revelation 16
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I heard a loud voice out of , saying to the seven , "Go and pour out the seven bowls of on the earth!" The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and painful sore on the people who had the mark of , and who his . The second poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became as of a man. Every living thing in the sea . The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became . I heard of the waters saying, "You are , who are and who were, O One, because you have judged these things. For they poured out of and , and you have given them to drink. They deserve this." I heard the saying, "Yes, , , true and are your judgments." The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with . People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of who has the over these plagues. They didn't and give him . The fifth poured out his bowl on of , and was darkened. They gnawed their because of the pain, and they blasphemed the of because of their pains and their sores. They still didn't of their works. The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the . Its water was dried up, that might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise. I saw coming out of the of the dragon, and out of the of , and out of the of the false , three , something like frogs; for they are spirits of , performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of . "Behold, I come like a thief. is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn't walk , and they see his ." He gathered them together into the place which is called in , "Harmagedon". The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of of , from , saying, "It is done!" There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake such as has not happened since there were men on the earth—so great an earthquake and so mighty. The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. the great was remembered in the sight of , to give to her of the of the fierceness of his . Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Great hailstones, about the weight of a , came down out of on people. People blasphemed because of the plague of the hail, for this plague was exceedingly severe.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.