The Angel and the Little Scroll

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was wearing a cloud like a robe and there was a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.

²He was holding a little scroll that was lying open in his hand. The angel put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,

³and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke.

⁴I was about to write down what they said when they spoke, but I heard a voice from heaven tell me, “Seal up what the seven thunders said, and don’t write it down.”

⁵Then the angel I’d seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven

⁶and swore an oath in the name of the God who lives for ever and ever, who created the sky, earth, and sea and everything in them. The angel said, “There won’t be any more delay!

⁷When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s plan will be carried out, just as he told the prophets who served him long ago.”

⁸Then the voice I’d heard from heaven spoke to me again. It told me, “Go and take the scroll that’s lying open in the hand of the angel who’s standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He told me, “Take it and eat it. It will become sour in your stomach, but ‘in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.’ ”

¹⁰I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand, and I ate it. In my mouth it tasted as sweet as honey, but when I’d eaten it, it became sour in my stomach.

¹¹Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”