¹ In the first ²  year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the Lord’s message ³  spoken through ⁴  Jeremiah, ⁵  the Lord stirred the mind ⁶  of King Cyrus of Persia. He disseminated ⁷  a proclamation ⁸  throughout his entire kingdom, announcing in a written edict ⁹  the following:

I will perform a mighty act among them ¹  and then send some of those who remain to the nations – to Tarshish, Pul, ²  Lud ³  (known for its archers ⁴ ), Tubal, Javan, ⁵  and to the distant coastlands ⁶  that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor.

The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ¹  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ²  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ³ 

I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. ²  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. ³  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ⁴ 

The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ¹  Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

“Micah from Moresheth ¹  prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. ²  He told all the people of Judah, ‘The Lord who rules over all ³  says, “Zion ⁴  will become a plowed field. Jerusalem ⁵  will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’ ⁶ 

I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that ¹  the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. ²  But they are prophesying a lie to you.

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. ²  ‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes.

This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful ¹  in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. ²  They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” ³ 

“Announce ¹  the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! ²  Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: ‘Babylon will be captured. Bel ³  will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon’s idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images ⁴  will be dismayed. ⁵ 

Her ¹  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ²  her priests proclaim rulings for profit, and her prophets read omens for pay. Yet they claim to trust ³  the Lord and say, “The Lord is among us. ⁴  Disaster will not overtake ⁵  us!”

If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving? But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

So ¹  I threw myself down ²  at his feet to worship him, but ³  he said, “Do not do this! ⁴  I am only ⁵  a fellow servant ⁶  with you and your brothers ⁷  who hold to the testimony about ⁸  Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹  he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. ² 

Then ¹  I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. ²  I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These ³  had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They ⁴  came to life ⁵  and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.