²⁶ Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

⁷ Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap.

² He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. ³ The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while.

¹⁴ for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

⁹ This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.

¹⁸ They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. ¹⁹ They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. ²⁰ And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.