1 And I saw there the armies of the angels of punishment advancing, holding whips and chains of iron and bronze. 2 I asked the angel of peace accompanying me, 'Who are those holding the whips heading to?' 3 He replied, 'To their chosen and beloved ones, to cast them into the chasm of the abyss of the valley.' 4 Then that valley shall be filled with their chosen and beloved, and the days of their lives shall end, and the days of their deception will no longer be counted. 5 In those days, the angels shall return and rush to the east upon the Parthians and Medes: They shall stir up the kings, inciting a spirit of unrest among them,⁠a and rouse them from their thrones, so that they may leap out like lions from their dens, and like hungry wolves into their flocks. 6 They shall ascend and trample the land of His chosen ones, which shall become a threshing-floor and a highway under their feet.⁠b 7 But the city of my righteous shall obstruct their horses. They shall begin to fight among themselves, their own hands turning against each other, and a man will not recognize his brother, nor a son his father or his mother, until countless bodies fall by their own hands, and their destruction shall not be in vain. 8 In those days, Sheol shall open its jaws, and they will be swallowed up. Their end will come; Sheol shall consume the sinners in the sight of the chosen.⁠c