启示录 11
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
两位见证人
11 有一根杆子赐给我当量尺，同时有声音吩咐我说：“起来，量一量上帝的殿和祭坛，并数点在殿里敬拜的人。 2 你不用量圣殿的外院，因为这部分已经给了外族人，他们要践踏圣城四十二个月。 3 我要赐权柄给我的两个见证人，他们将身穿麻衣，传道一千二百六十天。”
4 这两位见证人就是竖立在世界之主面前的那两棵橄榄树和两座灯台。 5 若有人要伤害他们，他们便从口中喷出火焰，烧灭敌人；若有人企图加害他们，必定会这样被杀。 6 他们拥有权能，在传道期间可以关闭天空使雨不降在地上，又有权使水变成血，并随时用各样的灾祸击打世界。
7 当他们做完见证以后，从无底坑上来的兽要和他们交战，并战胜他们，把他们杀掉。 8 他们便陈尸在大城的街上，这大城按寓意名叫所多玛，又名埃及，是他们的主被钉在十字架上的地方。 9 三天半之久，他们的尸体不得埋葬，各民族、各部落、各语言族群、各国家的人都观看他们的尸体。 10 地上万民便兴高采烈，互相送礼道贺，因为这两位先知曾使地上的人受苦。
11 三天半过后，上帝的生命之气进入二人里面，他们便站立起来。看见的人都害怕极了！ 12 接着天上有大声音呼唤他们说：“上这里来！”他们就在敌人的注视下驾云升上天去。 13 就在那一刻，发生了强烈的地震，那座城的十分之一倒塌了，因地震死亡的共七千人，生还者都在恐惧中将荣耀归给天上的上帝。
14 第二样灾难过去了，第三样灾难又接踵而来！
第七位天使吹号
15 第七位天使吹响号角的时候，天上有大声音说：“世上的国度现在已经属于我们的主和祂所立的基督了。祂要做王，直到永永远远。” 16 在上帝面前，坐在自己座位上的二十四位长老都一同俯伏敬拜上帝，说：
17 “主啊！昔在、今在的全能上帝啊！
我们感谢你，
因你已施展大能做王了。
18 世上的列国曾向你发怒，
现在是你向他们发烈怒的日子了。
时候已到，你要审判死人，
你要赏赐你的奴仆、先知、圣徒
和一切不论尊卑敬畏你名的人，
你要毁灭那些毁坏世界的人。”
19 那时，天上上帝的圣殿敞开了，殿内的约柜清晰可见，又有闪电、巨响、雷鸣、地震和大冰雹。
Revelation 11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
The Two Witnesses. 1 [a](A)Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who are worshiping in it. 2 But exclude the outer court[b] of the temple; do not measure it, for it has been handed over to the Gentiles, who will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 I will commission my two witnesses[c] to prophesy for those twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.” 4 (B)These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands[d] that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 [e]If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. 6 They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.(C)
7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss[f] will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.(D) 8 Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city,[g] which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. 9 [h]Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.(E) 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.(F) 13 At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell in ruins. Seven thousand people[i] were killed during the earthquake; the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed, but the third is coming soon.
The Seventh Trumpet.[j] 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to his Anointed, and he will reign forever and ever.” 16 The twenty-four elders who sat on their thrones before God prostrated themselves and worshiped God 17 and said:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God almighty,
who are and who were.
For you have assumed your great power
and have established your reign.
18 The nations raged,
but your wrath has come,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and to recompense your servants, the prophets,
and the holy ones and those who fear your name,
the small and the great alike,
and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”(G)
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm.
Footnotes
- 11:1 The temple and altar symbolize the new Israel; see note on Rev 7:4–9. The worshipers represent Christians. The measuring of the temple (cf. Ez 40:3–42:20; 47:1–12; Zec 2:5–6) suggests that God will preserve the faithful remnant (cf. Is 4:2–3) who remain true to Christ (Rev 14:1–5).
- 11:2 The outer court: the Court of the Gentiles. Trample…forty-two months: the duration of the vicious persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Dn 7:25; 12:7); this persecution of three and a half years (half of seven, counted as 1260 days in Rev 11:3; 12:6) became the prototype of periods of trial for God’s people; cf. Lk 4:25; Jas 5:17. The reference here is to the persecution by the Romans; cf. Introduction.
- 11:3 The two witnesses, wearing sackcloth symbolizing lamentation and repentance, cannot readily be identified. Do they represent Moses and Elijah, or the Law and the Prophets, or Peter and Paul? Most probably they refer to the universal church, especially the Christian martyrs, fulfilling the office of witness (two because of Dt 19:15; cf. Mk 6:7; Jn 8:17).
- 11:4 The two olive trees and the two lampstands: the martyrs who stand in the presence of the Lord; the imagery is taken from Zec 4:8–14, where the olive trees refer to Zerubbabel and Joshua.
- 11:5–6 These details are derived from stories of Moses, who turned water into blood (Ex 7:17–20), and of Elijah, who called down fire from heaven (1 Kgs 18:36–40; 2 Kgs 1:10) and closed up the sky for three years (1 Kgs 17:1; cf. 18:1).
- 11:7 The beast…from the abyss: the Roman emperor Nero, who symbolizes the forces of evil, or the antichrist (Rev 13:1, 8; 17:8); cf. Dn 7:2–8, 11–12, 19–22 and Introduction.
- 11:8 The great city: this expression is used constantly in Revelation for Babylon, i.e., Rome; cf. Rev 14:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:2, 10, 21. “Sodom” and “Egypt”: symbols of immorality (cf. Is 1:10) and oppression of God’s people (cf. Ex 1:11–14). Where indeed their Lord was crucified: not the geographical but the symbolic Jerusalem that rejects God and his witnesses, i.e., Rome, called Babylon in Rev 16–18; see note on Rev 17:9 and Introduction.
- 11:9–12 Over the martyrdom (Rev 11:7) of the two witnesses, now called prophets, the ungodly rejoice for three and a half days, a symbolic period of time; see note on Rev 11:2. Afterwards they go in triumph to heaven, as did Elijah (2 Kgs 2:11).
- 11:13 Seven thousand people: a symbolic sum to represent all social classes (seven) and large numbers (thousands); cf. Introduction.
- 11:15–19 The seventh trumpet proclaims the coming of God’s reign after the victory over diabolical powers; see note on Rev 10:7.
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