1. Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb. He was standing on Mount Zion. There were 144,000 people with him. They all had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
2. And I heard a sound from heaven like the noise of flooding water and like the sound of loud thunder. The sound I heard was like people playing harps.
3. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living things and the elders. The only ones who could learn the new song were the 144,000 who had been saved from the earth. No one else could learn the song.
4. These 144,000 are the ones who did not do sinful things with women. They kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb every place he goes. These 144,000 were saved from among the people of the earth. They are the first people to be offered to God and the Lamb.
5. They were not guilty of telling lies. They are without fault.
6. Then I saw another angel flying high in the air. The angel had the eternal Good News to preach to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
7. The angel said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him praise. The time has come for God to judge all people. Worship God. He made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.”
8. Then the second angel followed the first angel and said, “She is destroyed! The great city of Babylon is destroyed! She made all the nations drink the wine of her adultery and of God’s anger.”
9. A third angel followed the first two angels. This third angel said in a loud voice: “It will be bad for the person who worships the beast and his idol and gets the beast’s mark on the forehead or on the hand.
10. He will drink the wine of God’s anger. This wine is prepared with all its strength in the cup of God’s anger. He will be put in pain with burning sulfur before the holy angels and the Lamb.
11. And the smoke from their burning pain will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest, day or night, for those who worship the beast and his idol or who get the mark of his name.”
12. This means that God’s holy people must be patient. They must obey God’s commands and keep their faith in Jesus.