And I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from the sky like the sound of rushing water and like the sound of loud thunder, and the sound I heard was like harpists playing their harps. And they sing a new song in front of the throne and in front of the four living creatures and the elders, and nobody could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been bought from the earth.

These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women; they have kept themselves clean. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were bought out of humanity as first fruits for God and for the Lamb, and no lie was found in their mouths; they are without fault.

And I saw another messenger flying high overhead, with good news that lasts into the ages, to announce to those settled on the earth — to every nation and tribe and language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Bow to the one who made the sky and the earth and the sea and the springs of water.”

And another, a second messenger, followed, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great” — she who made all the nations drink the wine of her raging immorality.

And another, a third messenger, followed them, saying in a loud voice: “If anyone bows to the animal and its image and receives a stamp on their forehead or on their hand, that person will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of his fury, and will be tormented with fire and sulphur in front of the holy messengers and in front of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up into the ages, and they have no rest day or night — those who bow to the animal and its image, and anyone who receives the stamp of its name.”

Here is the staying power of God’s people, who keep God’s commands and their trust in Jesus.

And I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Write: happy are the dead who die belonging to the Lord, from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they can rest from their hard work — because what they have done goes with them.”

And I looked, and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud someone like a son of man, with a gold wreath on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another messenger came out of the temple, calling in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Send in your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come — the earth’s harvest is dried ripe.” And the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

And another messenger came out of the temple in the sky, and he also had a sharp sickle. And another messenger came out from the altar, the one with authority over the fire, and called in a loud voice to the one with the sharp sickle, “Send in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.” And the messenger swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the earth’s vintage, and threw it into the great winepress of God’s anger. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle, for sixteen hundred stadia.