The Thousand Years

20 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,^(A) having the key^(B) to the Abyss^(C) and holding in his hand a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan,^(D) and bound him for a thousand years.^{(E) 3} He threw him into the Abyss,^(F) and locked and sealed^(G) it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations^(H) anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.^(A) The star was given the key^(B) to the shaft of the Abyss.^{(C) 2} When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.^(D) The sun and sky were darkened^(E) by the smoke from the Abyss.^{(F) 3} And out of the smoke locusts^(G) came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions^(H) of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm^(I) the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,^(J) but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(K) 5} They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.^(L) And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion^(M) when it strikes. ⁶ During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.^(N)

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.^(O) On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.^{(P) 8} Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.^{(Q) 9} They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.^{(R) 10} They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.^{(S) 11} They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,^(T) whose name in Hebrew^(U) is Abaddon^(V) and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

¹⁷ The seventy-two^(A) returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”^(B)

¹⁸ He replied, “I saw Satan^(C) fall like lightning from heaven.^{(D) 19} I have given you authority to trample on snakes^(E) and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰ However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”^(F)

²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me,^(A) Jesus, Son of the Most High God?^(B) I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.^(C)

Made Alive in Christ

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,^{(A) 2} in which you used to live^(B) when you followed the ways of this world^(C) and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,^(D) the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.^{(E) 3} All of us also lived among them at one time,^(F) gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a](G) and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

¹¹ Put on the full armor of God,^(A) so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer^(A) live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.^{(B) 18} They are darkened in their understanding^(C) and separated from the life of God^(D) because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.^{(E) 19} Having lost all sensitivity,^(F) they have given themselves over^(G) to sensuality^(H) so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over^(A) in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.^(B)

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over^(A) to shameful lusts.^(B) Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.^(C)