Revelation 9; Nehemiah 12; Psalms 104:1-23

Revelation 9

1 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him.

2 He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.

3 Then out of the smoke locusts came to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth.

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

5 They were not permitted to kill them, but were to torment [them] for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it strikes a man.

6 In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like gold crowns; their faces were like men's faces;

8 they had hair like women's hair; their teeth were like lions' teeth;

9 they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle;

10 and they had tails with stingers, like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months.

11 They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

12 The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.

13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four horns of the gold altar that is before God, I heard a voice

14 say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates."

15 So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of the human race.

16 The number of mounted troops was 200 million; I heard their number.

17 This is how I saw the horses in my vision: The horsemen had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.

18 A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues-by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths.

19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails, like snakes, have heads, and they inflict injury with them.

20 The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which are not able to see, hear, or walk.

21 And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

Nehemiah 12

1 These are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.

8 The Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah- he and his relatives were in charge of the praise songs.

9 Bakbukiah, Unni, and their relatives [stood] opposite them in the services.

10 Jeshua fathered Joiakim, Joiakim fathered Eliashib, Eliashib fathered Joiada,

11 Joiada fathered Jonathan, and Jonathan fathered Jaddua.

12 In the days of Joiakim, the leaders of the priestly families were: Meraiah of Seraiah, Hananiah of Jeremiah,

13 Meshullam of Ezra, Jehohanan of Amariah,

14 Jonathan of Malluchi, Joseph of Shebaniah,

15 Adna of Harim, Helkai of Meraioth,

16 Zechariah of Iddo, Meshullam of Ginnethon,

17 Zichri of Abijah, Piltai of Moadiah, of Miniamin,

18 Shammua of Bilgah, Jehonathan of Shemaiah,

19 Mattenai of Joiarib, Uzzi of Jedaiah,

20 Kallai of Sallai, Eber of Amok,

21 Hashabiah of Hilkiah, and Nethanel of Jedaiah.

22 In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the leaders of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded while Darius the Persian ruled.

23 Levi's descendants, the leaders of families, were recorded in the Book of the Historical Records during the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

24 The leaders of the Levites-Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their relatives opposite them-gave praise and thanks, division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.

25 [This included] Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, and Obadiah. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates.

26 These [served] in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites wherever they lived and brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

28 The singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,

29 from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.

30 After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate.

32 Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed:

33 Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah.

35 Some of the priests' sons had trumpets: Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph,

36 and his relatives: Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe went in front of them.

37 At the Fountain Gate they climbed the steps of the city of David on the ascent of the wall [and went] above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.

38 The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,

39 above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard.

40 The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So [did] I and half of the officials accompanying me, as well as

41 the priests: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;

42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader.

43 On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem's rejoicing was heard far away.

44 On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms [that housed] the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths. The legally required portions for the priests and Levites were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving.

45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.

46 For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were leaders of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

47 So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for the descendants of Aaron.

Psalms 104:1-23

1 My soul, praise the Lord! Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with majesty and splendor.

2 He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy,

3 laying the beams of His palace on the waters [above], making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind,

4 and making the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.

5 He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken.

6 You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

7 At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away-

8 mountains rose and valleys sank- to the place You established for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.

10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

11 They supply water for every wild beast; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky live beside [the springs]; they sing among the foliage.

13 He waters the mountains from His palace; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of Your labor.

14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock and [provides] crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth,

15 wine that makes man's heart glad- making his face shine with oil- and bread that sustains man's heart.

16 The trees of the Lord flourish, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted.

17 There the birds make their nests; the stork makes its home in the pine trees.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.

20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals stir.

21 The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises; they go back and lie down in their dens.

23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening.