The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angelr coming down from heaven.s He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbowt above his head; his face was like the sun,u and his legs were like fiery pillars.v 2 He was holding a little scroll,w which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,x 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion.y When he shouted, the voices of the seven thundersz spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write;a but I heard a voice from heavenb say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”c

5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the landd raised his right hand to heaven.e 6 And he sworef by him who lives for ever and ever,g who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it,h and said, “There will be no more delay!i 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet,j the mysteryk of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”l

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heavenm spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scrolln that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’a”o 10 I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth,p but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesyq again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”r

The Two Witnesses

11 I was given a reed like a measuring rods and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court;t do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles.u They will trample on the holy cityv for 42 months.w 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses,x and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,y clothed in sackcloth.”z 4 They are “the two olive trees”a and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”a b 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies.c This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.d 6 They have power to shut up the heavense so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying;f and they have power to turn the waters into bloodg and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beasth that comes up from the Abyssi will attack them,j and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great cityk—which is figuratively called Sodoml and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified.m 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nationn will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.o 10 The inhabitants of the earthp will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts,q because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

11 But after the three and a half daysr the breathb of life from God entered them,s and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.”t And they went up to heaven in a cloud,u while their enemies looked on.

13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquakev and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave gloryw to the God of heaven.x

14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.y

The Seventh Trumpet

15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet,z and there were loud voicesa in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,b

and he will reign for ever and ever.”c

16 And the twenty-four elders,d who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their facese and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“We give thanksf to you, Lord God Almighty,g

the One who is and who was,h

because you have taken your great power

and have begun to reign.i

18 The nations were angry,j

and your wrath has come.

The time has come for judging the dead,k

and for rewarding your servants the prophetsl

and your people who revere your name,

both great and smallm—

and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

19 Then God’s templen in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.o And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder,p an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.q

The Woman and the Dragon

12 A great signr appeared in heaven:s a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve starst on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in painu as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven:v an enormous red dragonw with seven headsx and ten hornsy and seven crownsz on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a thirda of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.b The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her childc the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”a d And her child was snatched upe to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.f

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michaelg and his angels fought against the dragon,h and the dragon and his angelsi fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpentj called the devil,k or Satan,l who leads the whole world astray.m He was hurled to the earth,n and his angels with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaveno say:

“Now have come the salvationp and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,q

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down.

11 They triumphed overr him

by the blood of the Lambs

and by the word of their testimony;t

they did not love their lives so much

as to shrink from death.u

12 Therefore rejoice, you heavensv

and you who dwell in them!

But woew to the earth and the sea,x

because the devil has gone down to you!

He is filled with fury,

because he knows that his time is short.”

13 When the dragony saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.z 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,a so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time,b out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpentc spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage ward against the rest of her offspringe—those who keep God’s commandsf and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.g