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Which said to the seven angels, Go your ways,
Pour out the vials of the wrath of God
Upon the earth.[175] Then on the men which bore
The mark upon their foreheads of the beast,
Or fell down to his image, noisome sores
And plague-spots fell.
The second angel poured
His vial on the sea, and it became
The blood of a dead man; and every thing
Which had the breath of life died in the sea. 120
And the third angel poured his vial out
Upon the rivers, and fresh fountains clear,
And they became red blood. And then John heard,
In trance, the angels of the waters say,
Righteous art thou, O Lord! and righteously,
O thou which art, and was, and which shall be,
Thus hast thou judged, for they have shed the blood
Of prophets and of saints! A voice replied,
From out the altar, Even so, O Lord!
Almighty God, thy judgments are most true! 130
And the fourth angel poured his vial out
Upon the sun, and power was given to him
To scorch men with the fire, and they blasphemed
The name of God, and still repented not,
Looking with gnashing teeth upon the sun.
And the fifth angel poured his vial out
Upon the kingdom of the beast, and, lo! 137
The kingdom of the beast at once was dark:
But men repented not--even while they gnawed
Their tongues for pain, blaspheming God in heaven.
And the sixth angel poured his vial out
Where the great river of Euphrates rolls,
And it was quick dried up, and so became
A highway for the armies of the east,
And for the kings of earth, and the whole world,
Gathering to battle, on the dreadful day
Of the incensed Lord, into a place
Called "Armageddon," in the Hebrew tongue.
And the seventh angel poured his vial out
Into the air, and a loud voice was heard 150
Out of the temple's inmost shrine, which cried,
All is fulfilled! At once an earthquake shook
The ground, and lightnings, red and terrible,
Flashed, and the thunders rolled along the sky,
And strange and fearful voices in the air
Were heard, so dreadful was that storm. Aghast,
The nations fell; and the great Babylon
Came in remembrance before God, to pour
On her the fierceness of his wakened wrath.
And now John saw another angel fly 160