(合用 可用 隨便用)
譯本是參照 AFV (A Faithful Version) 2009
13. And the sixth angel sounded his trumpet; and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God; 14. And it said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, “Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.” 15. Then the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were loosed, so that they might kill a third of men; 16. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred thousand thousand; and I heard the number of them. 17. And so I saw the horses in the vision, and those sitting on them, who had fiery breastplates, even like jacinth and brimstone. And the heads of the horses were like heads of lions, and fire and smoke and brimstone shoot out of their mouths. 18. By these three, a third of men were killed: by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that shoot out of their mouths. 19. For their power is in their mouths; for their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they inflict wounds. 20. But the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands, that they might not worship demons, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which do not have the power to see, nor to hear, nor to walk. 21. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thievery. (A Faithful Version)
13. 第六位使者吹響小號時,寶座前的金色祭壇上的四角,有聲音發出。
14. 這聲音對第六位的使者說:釋放四位使者,是被囚禁在幼發拉底河的。
15. 這四位使者,以時、日、月、年這樣的日子被囚禁,今天要解禁他們,為的是要消滅地上三分之一的人口。
16. 當時聽到的人數是,騎兵約二千萬。
17. 我約翰從異像中,看到那些坐在馬背的人,胸前有像火光閃耀的凱甲,就像燃燒的火石,中間火紅有黑煙圍繞。馬的頭像獅,馬的口中有火、有煙、火石直射而出。
18. 從馬口中噴出來的火、煙及火石,足夠擊殺三分之一的人數。
19. 這些能力看來是從口,有如毒蛇的尾巴伸展而出,這口像蛇的頭,絕對能做成死傷。
20. 其餘的人若未被波及,看到這災難仍在作壞事當中,不願悔改,依舊去拜惡魔,這魔像是由金、銀、銅、石、木所製成的偶像,信的人忘了這些偶像是不能看,無法聽,連自己去行走的力都沒有。
21. 照舊做不法的勾當,如謀殺、邪術、淫亂和偷竊等事,雖然明知,仍不願悔改。
這個將來會發生的異象,若放在今天的中東事變,就是一幅實現了當日的預言。
這異象的重點是釋放了在幼發拉底河被囚的四位使者。所謂使者按異象的理解是頭上有神的印記。誰有這印記?就是亞伯拉罕的十二支派。中東的人口組成就是這十二支派的發源地。這十二支派既是生活在中東,須無法細分,確是有個大概。
被囚在幼發拉底河流域,不就是今日以色列和極個當時被應許而居的二河流域,包括今日以巴之戰的範圍。而當中四位使者(他們本有見證那創造者的使命,因不信,與神隔絕,成了被囚於世俗)今日參與其中有四大派,巴勒斯坦的哈馬斯、叙利亞的真主党、也門、伊朗作為背後支撐戰事的大佬。
約翰眼中看到的,有二個景象,一方是有實力的,武器精良,另一方是人數眾多,卻是被滅他們總人數的三分之一。
若將這預言的景象放在今是以巴之戰的場景,那是何等真實的一個圖像,真實得無言以對。這現象是對亞伯拉罕之後,猶太人及其兄弟之言。而猶太人從歷史中學會了一事,靠神自強,他的兄弟不會,就像經文的描述,這些穆斯林仍舊以宗教去囚眾,不去釋放人本有的自由,思想和行為,就是以宗教之名,滿足私慾為實的最好說明。
這段經文的結尾有個結論,以色列的兄弟,不相信亞伯拉罕相信的,雖遭挫敗,仍死不悔改。他們作事可憎,例如以擄掠的人質作交換。按真實的處理,以防不法之人以此有由,不斷進行擄人勒贖,就應如今日第47任的美國總統那份應有的強硬姿態。
看完這段經文的啟迪,就更相信神是活而且有忍耐又有恩慈。

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