Revelation 11:19-15:4

Lexham English Bible

¹⁹ And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple, and there were lightnings and sounds and thunders and an earthquake and large hail.^[a]

The Woman and Her Son Versus the Dragon

12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, ² and who was pregnant^[b] and was crying out because she^[c] was having birth pains, and was in torment to give birth. ³ And another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven royal headbands.^{[d] 4} And his tail swept away a third of the stars from heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, in order that whenever she gave birth to her child he could devour it. ⁵ And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod,^[e] and her child was snatched away to God and to his throne. ⁶ And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared there by God, so that they could feed her there for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

Satan Thrown Down from Heaven to Earth

⁷ And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against^[f] the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back^[g]. ⁸ And they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven. ⁹ And the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she could fly into the wilderness, to her place where she is fed there for a time, and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ And from his mouth the serpent spouted water like a river after the woman, in order that he could make her swept away by a river. ¹⁶ And the earth came to the aid of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spouted out of his mouth. ¹⁷ And the dragon was angry at the woman, and went away to fight against^[i] the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and who hold to the testimony about Jesus. ¹⁸ And he stood on the sand of the sea.

The First Beast from the Sea

13 And I saw coming up out of the sea a beast that had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns ten royal headbands,^[j] and on its heads a blasphemous name.^{[k] 2} And the beast that I saw was similar to a leopard, and its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. ³ And one of its heads appeared as though slaughtered to death, and its fatal wound^[l] had been healed. And the whole earth was astonished and followed after the beast. ⁴ And they worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to make war with him?

⁵ And a mouth was given to him speaking great things and blasphemies, and authority to act was given to him for forty-two months. ⁶ And he opened his mouth for blasphemies toward God, to blaspheme his name and his dwelling, those who live in heaven. ⁷ And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given to him over every tribe and people and language and nation. ⁸ And all those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name is not written^[m] from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. ⁹ If anyone has an ear, let him hear!

Here is the patient endurance and the faith of the saints.

The Second Beast from the Earth

¹¹ And I saw another beast coming up from the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he was speaking like a dragon. ¹² And he exercises all the authority of the first beast on behalf of him, and he causes the earth and those who live in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound had been healed^[n]. ¹³ And he performs great signs, so that he even causes fire from heaven to come down to the earth before people. ¹⁴ And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it has been granted to him to perform on behalf of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who has the wound of the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ And it was given to him to put breath into the image of the beast, in order that the image of the beast both spoke and caused that all those, unless they worshiped the image of the beast, should be killed. ¹⁶ And he causes all people, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, that they give them a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, ¹⁷ and that no one was able to buy or to sell except the one who had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸ Here is wisdom: the one who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number,^[o] and his number is six hundred sixty-six.^[p]

The Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion

14 And I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the sound that I heard was like harpists playing on their harps. ³ And they were singing something like a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one was able to learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who had been bought from the earth.

⁴ These are those who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were bought from humanity as first fruits to God and to the Lamb, ⁵ and in their mouth a lie was not found; they are blameless.

The Three Angels and Their Messages

⁶ And I saw another angel flying directly overhead^[q], having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who reside on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and language and people, ⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship the one who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of water!”

⁸ And another second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who caused all the nations to drink from the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

⁹ And another third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself also will drink of the wine of the anger of God that has been mixed full strength in the cup of his wrath, and will be tortured with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torture went up forever and ever^[r], and those who worshiped the beast and his image did not have rest day and night, along with anyone who received^[s] the mark of his name. ¹² Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus.

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write:

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “in order that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow after them.”

The Earth is Harvested

¹⁴ And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud was seated one like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. ¹⁵ And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Send out your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe!” ¹⁶ And the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷ And another angel came out of the temple that is in heaven; he also had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ And another angel who had authority over the fire went out from the altar, and he called out with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send out your sharp sickle and harvest the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are at their prime!” ¹⁹ And the angel swung his sickle into the earth and harvested the vine of the earth, and threw the grapes^[t] into the great winepress of the wrath of God. ²⁰ And the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood went out from the winepress up to the bridles of the horses, about one thousand six hundred stadia.^[u]

Seven Angels with Seven Last Plagues

15 And I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels having seven plagues that are the last ones, because with them the wrath of God is completed. ² And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and his image and the number of his name were standing by^[v] the glassy sea, holding harps from God. ³ And they were singing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: