The Seven Bowls of God’s Great Anger

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple speaking to the seven angels. “Go,” it said. “Pour out the seven bowls of God’s great anger on the earth.”

² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land. Ugly and painful sores broke out on people. Those people had the mark of the beast and worshiped its statue.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. It turned into blood like the blood of a dead person. Every living thing in the sea died.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water. They became blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel who was in charge of the waters. He said,

⁷ Then I heard the altar reply. It said,

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. The sun was allowed to burn people with fire. ⁹ They were burned by the blazing heat. So they spoke evil things against the name of God, who controlled these plagues. But they refused to turn away from their sins. They did not give glory to God.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. The kingdom of the beast became very dark. People chewed on their tongues because they were suffering so much. ¹¹ They spoke evil things against the God of heaven. They did this because of their pains and their sores. But they refused to turn away from the sins they had committed.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. Its water dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. ¹³ Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are spirits of demons that perform signs. They go out to gather the kings of the whole world for battle. This battle will take place on the great day of the God who rules over all.

¹⁵ “Look! I am coming like a thief! Blessed is anyone who stays awake and keeps their clothes on. Then they will be ready. They will not be caught naked and so be put to shame.”

¹⁶ Then the evil spirits gathered the kings together. In the Hebrew language, the place where the kings met is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne. It said, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, thunder and a powerful earthquake. There has never been an earthquake as terrible as this. One like this hasn’t happened while human beings have lived on earth. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts. The cities of the nations crumbled and fell. God remembered Babylon the Great. He gave Babylon the cup filled with the wine of his terrible anger. ²⁰ Every island ran away. The mountains could not be found. ²¹ Huge hailstones weighing about 100 pounds each fell from the sky. The hail crushed people. And they spoke evil things against God because of the plague. That’s because the plague of hail was so terrible.