8:1-14 (MSG):
1. “Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!
Vultures are circling over God’s people
Who have broken my covenant
and defied my revelation.
2. Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’
But they don’t act like it.
3. Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,
and now the enemy is after them.
4. “They crown kings, but without asking me.
They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.
Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,
idols that will be their ruin.
5. Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!
I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!
How long before they shape up?
6. And they’re Israelites!
A sculptor made that thing—
it’s not God.
That Samaritan calf
will be broken to bits.
7. Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,
they’ll harvest tornadoes.
Wheat with no head
produces no flour.
And even if it did,
strangers would gulp it down.
8. Israel is swallowed up and spit out.
Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.
9. They trotted off to Assyria:
Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,
but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.
10. Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,
I’m going to gather them together and confront them.
They’re going to reap the consequences soon,
feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.
11. “Ephraim has built a lot of altars,
and then uses them for sinning.
Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!
12. I write out my revelation for them in detail
and they pretend they can’t read it.
13. They offer sacrifices to me
and then they feast on the meat.
God is not pleased!
I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.
I’ll punish their sins
and send them back to Egypt.
14. Israel has forgotten his Maker
and gotten busy making palaces.
Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.
I’m sending fire on their cities
to burn down their fortifications.”
Revelation 8:1-13 (MSG):
1. When the Lamb ripped off the seventh seal, Heaven fell quiet—complete silence for about half an hour.
2. I saw the Seven Angels who are always in readiness before God handed seven trumpets.
3. Then another Angel, carrying a gold censer, came and stood at the Altar. He was given a great quantity of incense so that he could offer up the prayers of all the holy people of God on the Golden Altar before the Throne.
4. Smoke billowed up from the incense-laced prayers of the holy ones, rose before God from the hand of the Angel.
5. Then the Angel filled the censer with fire from the Altar and heaved it to earth. It set off thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6. The Seven Angels with the trumpets got ready to blow them.
7. At the first trumpet blast, hail and fire mixed with blood were dumped on earth. A third of the earth was scorched, a third of the trees, and every blade of green grass—burned to a crisp.
8. The second Angel trumpeted. Something like a huge mountain blazing with fire was flung into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood,
9. a third of the living sea creatures died, and a third of the ships sank.
10. The third Angel trumpeted. A huge Star, blazing like a torch, fell from Heaven, wiping out a third of the rivers and a third of the springs.
11. The Star’s name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned water.
12. The fourth Angel trumpeted. A third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were hit, blacked out by a third, both day and night in one-third blackout.
13. I looked hard; I heard a lone eagle, flying through Middle-Heaven, crying out ominously, “Doom! Doom! Doom to everyone left on earth! There are three more Angels about to blow their trumpets. Doom is on its way!”
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