Revelation 12:4 (original) (raw)

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with ya rainbow over his head, and zhis face was like the sun, and ahis legs like pillars of fire. 2 bHe had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, clike a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, d“Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land eraised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by fhim who lives forever and ever, gwho created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that hin the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, ijust as he announced to his servants the prophets.

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is 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 told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, j“Take and keat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, l“You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

The Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given ma measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure nthe court outside the temple; leave that out, for oit is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for pforty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for p1,260 days, qclothed in sackcloth.”

4 These are rthe two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, sfire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, tthis is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power uto shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and vto strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, wthe beast that rises from xthe bottomless pit[1](#f1- "Or the abyss") ywill make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically[2](#f2- "Greek spiritually") is called zSodom and aEgypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and brefuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and cthose who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and dexchange presents, because these two prophets ehad been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days fa breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, g“Come up here!” And hthey went up to heaven iin a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was ja great earthquake, and ka tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and lgave glory to mthe God of heaven.

14 nThe second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

15 Then othe seventh angel blew his trumpet, and pthere were loud voices in heaven, saying, q“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of rhis Christ, and she shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders twho sit on their thrones before God ufell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

vwho is and who was,

for you have taken your great power

and wbegun to reign.

18 The nations raged,

but xyour wrath came,

and ythe time for the dead to be judged,

and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

and zthose who fear your name,

both small and great,

and afor destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

19 Then bGod’s temple in heaven was opened, and cthe ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,[3](#f3- "Or voices, or sounds") peals of thunder, an earthquake, and dheavy hail.

The Woman and the Dragon

12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman eclothed with fthe sun, with fthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and gwas crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great hred dragon, iwith seven heads and jten horns, and on his heads kseven diadems. 4 His tail swept down la third of the stars of heaven and mcast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child nhe might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, oone who is to rule[1](#f1- "Greek shepherd") all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was pcaught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for q1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

7 Now war arose in heaven, rMichael and shis angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And tthe great dragon was thrown down, uthat ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, vthe deceiver of the whole world—whe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now xthe salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[2](#f2- "Or brothers and sisters") has been thrown down, ywho accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And zthey have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for athey loved not their lives beven unto death. 12 Therefore, crejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But dwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ehe knows that his time is short!”

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued fthe woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two gwings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent hinto the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ifor a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water jlike a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off kto make war on the rest of lher offspring, mon those who keep the commandments of God and hold to nthe testimony of Jesus. And he stood[3](#f3- "Some manuscripts And I stood, connecting the sentence with 13:1") on the sand of the sea.

The First Beast

13 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, owith ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and pblasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was qlike a leopard; its feet were like ra bear’s, and its mouth was like sa lion’s mouth. And to it tthe dragon gave his power and uhis throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and vthe whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, w“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given xa mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for yforty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,[1](#f1- "Or tabernacle") that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed zto make war on the saints and to conquer them.[2](#f2- "Some manuscripts omit this sentence") And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all awho dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in bthe book of life of cthe Lamb dwho was slain. 9 eIf anyone has an ear, let him hear:

10 fIf anyone is to be taken captive,

to captivity he goes;

gif anyone is to be slain with the sword,

with the sword must he be slain.

hHere is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then iI saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,[3](#f3- "Or on its behalf") and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, jwhose mortal wound was healed. 13 kIt performs great signs, even lmaking fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of[4](#f4- "Or on behalf of") the beast mit deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast nthat was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not oworship the image of the beast pto be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,[5](#f5- "For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface") qto be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, rthe name of the beast or sthe number of its name. 18 tThis calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number uof a man, and his number is 666.[6](#f6- "Some manuscripts 616")

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and behold, on vMount Zion wstood the Lamb, and with him x144,000 who yhad his name and his Father’s name written zon their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven alike the roar of many waters and blike the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of charpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were singing da new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. eNo one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for fthey are virgins. It is these gwho follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as hfirstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and iin their mouth no lie was found, for they are jblameless.

The Messages of the Three Angels

6 Then I saw another angel kflying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to lthose who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7 And he said with a loud voice, m“Fear God and ngive him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and oworship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the psprings of water.”

8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, q“Fallen, fallen is rBabylon the great, sshe who made all nations drink tthe wine of the passion[1](#f1- "Or wrath") of her sexual immorality.”

9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone uworships the beast and its image and receives va mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink wthe wine of God’s wrath, xpoured full strength into the cup of his anger, and yhe will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And zthe smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and athey have no rest, day or night, these uworshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

12 bHere is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who ckeep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.[2](#f2- "Greek and the faith of Jesus")

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: dBlessed are the dead ewho die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, f“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The Harvest of the Earth

14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one glike a son of man, hwith a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel icame out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, j“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for kthe harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, lthe angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, mfor its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great nwinepress of the wrath of God. 20 And othe winepress was trodden poutside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as qa horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.[3](#f3- "About 184 miles; a stadion was about 607 feet or 185 meters")