Revelation 10-12

Contemporary English Version

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. This one was covered with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like columns of fire, ²and with his hand he held a little scroll^[a] that had been unrolled. He stood there with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. ³Then he shouted with a voice that sounded like a growling lion. Thunder roared seven times.

⁴After the thunder stopped, I was about to write what it had said. But a voice from heaven shouted, “Keep it secret! Don't write these things.”

⁵^(A) The angel I had seen standing on the sea and the land then held his right hand up toward heaven. ⁶He made a promise in the name of God who lives forever and who created heaven, earth, the sea, and every living creature. The angel said, “You won't have to wait any longer. ⁷God told his secret plans to his servants the prophets, and it will all happen by the time the seventh angel sounds his trumpet.”

⁸^(B) Once again the voice from heaven spoke to me. It said, “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel standing on the sea and the land.”

⁹When I went over to ask the angel for the little scroll, the angel said, “Take the scroll and eat it! Your stomach will turn sour, but the taste in your mouth will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. The taste was sweet as honey, but my stomach turned sour.

¹¹Then some voices said, “Keep on telling what will happen to the people of many nations, races, and languages, and also to kings.”

The Two Witnesses

11 ^(C) An angel gave me a measuring stick and said:

Measure around God's temple. Be sure to include the altar and everyone worshiping there. ²^(D) But don't measure the courtyard outside the temple building. Leave it out. It has been given to those people who don't know God, and they will trample all over the holy city for 42 months. ³My two witnesses will wear sackcloth,^[b] while I let them preach for 1,260 days.

⁴^(E) These two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in the presence of the Lord who rules the earth. ⁵Any enemy who tries to harm them will be destroyed by the fire that comes out of their mouths. ⁶^(F) They have the power to lock up the sky and to keep rain from falling while they are prophesying. And whenever they want to, they can turn water to blood and cause all kinds of terrible troubles on earth.

⁷^(G) After the two witnesses have finished preaching God's message, the beast that lives in the deep pit will come up and fight against them. It will win the battle and kill them. ⁸^(H) Their bodies will be left lying in the streets of the same great city where their Lord was nailed to a cross. And this city is spiritually like the city of Sodom or the country of Egypt.

⁹For three and a half days the people of every nation, tribe, language, and race will stare at the bodies of these two witnesses and refuse to let them be buried. ¹⁰Everyone on earth will celebrate and be happy. They will give gifts to each other, because of what happened to the two prophets who caused them so much trouble. ¹¹^(I) But three and a half days later, God will breathe life into their bodies. They will stand up, and everyone who sees them will be terrified.

¹²^(J) The witnesses then heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Come up here.” And while their enemies were watching, they were taken up to heaven in a cloud. ¹³^(K) At that same moment there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were frightened and praised the God who rules in heaven.

¹⁴The second horrible thing has now happened! And the third one will be here soon.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵^(L) At the sound of the seventh trumpet, loud voices were heard in heaven. They said,

“Now the kingdom
    of this world
belongs to our Lord
    and to his Chosen One!
And he will rule
    forever and ever!”

¹⁶Then the 24 elders, who were seated on thrones in God's presence, knelt down and worshiped him. ¹⁷They said,

“Lord God All-Powerful,
you are and you were,
    and we thank you.
You used your great power
    and started ruling.
¹⁸^(M) When the nations got angry,
    you became angry too!
Now the time has come
for the dead
    to be judged.
It is time for you to reward
    your servants the prophets
and all your people
who honor your name,
    no matter who they are.
It is time to destroy everyone
who has destroyed
    the earth.”

¹⁹^(N) The door to God's temple in heaven was then opened, and the sacred chest^[c] could be seen inside the temple. I saw lightning and heard roars of thunder. The earth trembled and huge hailstones fell to the ground.

The Woman and the Dragon

12 Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head. ²She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain.

³^(O) Something else appeared in the sky. It was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and a crown on each of its seven heads. ⁴^(P) With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born.

⁵^(Q) The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all nations with an iron rod. The boy was snatched away. He was taken to God and placed on his throne. ⁶The woman ran into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Michael Fights the Dragon

⁷^(R) A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. ⁸But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven ⁹^(S) and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. ¹⁰^(T) Then I heard a voice from heaven shout,

“Our God has shown
his saving power,
    and his kingdom has come!
God's own Chosen One
    has shown his authority.
Satan accused our people
in the presence of God
    day and night.
Now he has been thrown out!

¹¹“Our people defeated Satan
    because of the blood^[d]
of the Lamb
    and the message of God.
They were willing
    to give up their lives.

¹²“The heavens should rejoice,
together with everyone
    who lives there.
But pity the earth
    and the sea,
because the devil
was thrown down
    to the earth.
He knows his time is short,
    and he is very angry.”

¹³When the dragon realized it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son. ¹⁴^(U) But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time.

¹⁵The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. ¹⁶But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon's mouth. ¹⁷This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. ¹⁸The dragon^[e] stood on the beach beside the sea.

Footnotes

10.2 scroll: See the note at 5.1.
11.3 sackcloth: See the note at 6.12.
11.19 sacred chest: In Old Testament times the sacred chest was kept in the tent used for worship. It was the symbol of God's presence with his people and also of his agreement with them.
12.11 blood: Or “death.”
12.18 The dragon: The text has “he,” and some manuscripts have “I.”