Revelation 10
Contemporary English Version
The Angel and the Little Scroll
10 I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. This one was covered with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like columns of fire, 2 and with his hand he held a little scroll[a] that had been unrolled. He stood there with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 Then he shouted with a voice that sounded like a growling lion. Thunder roared seven times.
4 After the thunder stopped, I was about to write what it had said. But a voice from heaven shouted, “Keep it secret! Don't write these things.”
5 (A) The angel I had seen standing on the sea and the land then held his right hand up toward heaven. 6 He made a promise in the name of God who lives forever and who created heaven, earth, the sea, and every living creature. The angel said, “You won't have to wait any longer. 7 God told his secret plans to his servants the prophets, and it will all happen by the time the seventh angel sounds his trumpet.”
8 (B) Once again the voice from heaven spoke to me. It said, “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel standing on the sea and the land.”
9 When I went over to ask the angel for the little scroll, the angel said, “Take the scroll and eat it! Your stomach will turn sour, but the taste in your mouth will be sweet as honey.” 10 I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. The taste was sweet as honey, but my stomach turned sour.
11 Then some voices said, “Keep on telling what will happen to the people of many nations, races, and languages, and also to kings.”
Footnotes
- 10.2 scroll: See the note at 5.1.
Revelation 10
Wycliffe Bible
10 And I saw another strong angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow on his head; and the face of him was as the sun, and the feet of him as a pillar of fire.
2 And he had in his hand a little book opened; and he set his right foot on the sea, and the left foot on the earth [forsooth his left foot on the earth].
3 And he cried with a great voice, as a lion when he roareth; and when he had cried, the seven thunders spake their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had spoken their voices, I was to write [I was to writing]. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Mark thou [Sign thou, or mark,] what things the seven thunders spake, and do not thou write them.
5 And the angel whom I saw standing above the sea, and above the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 and swore by him that liveth into worlds of worlds, that made of nought heaven, and those things that be in it, and the earth, and those things that be in it, and the sea, and those things that be in it, that time shall no more be.
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to trumpet, the mystery of God shall be ended [when he shall begin to sing in trump, the mystery of God shall be fulfilled], as he preached by his servants prophets.
8 And I heard a voice from heaven again speaking with me, and saying, Go thou, and take the book, that is opened, from the hand of the angel, that standeth above the sea, and on the land [standing above the sea, and above the land].
9 And I went to the angel, and said to him, that he should give me the book. And he said to me, Take the book, and devour it; and it shall make thy womb to be bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.
10 And I took the book of the angel's hand, and devoured it, and it was in my mouth as sweet [as] honey; and when I had devoured it, my womb was bitter.
11 And he said to me, It behooveth thee again to prophesy to heathen men, and to peoples, and languages [and tongues], and to many kings.
Revelation 11
Contemporary English Version
The Two Witnesses
11 (A) An angel gave me a measuring stick and said:
Measure around God's temple. Be sure to include the altar and everyone worshiping there. 2 (B) But don't measure the courtyard outside the temple building. Leave it out. It has been given to those people who don't know God, and they will trample all over the holy city for 42 months. 3 My two witnesses will wear sackcloth,[a] while I let them preach for 1,260 days.
4 (C) These two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in the presence of the Lord who rules the earth. 5 Any enemy who tries to harm them will be destroyed by the fire that comes out of their mouths. 6 (D) They have the power to lock up the sky and to keep rain from falling while they are prophesying. And whenever they want to, they can turn water to blood and cause all kinds of terrible troubles on earth.
7 (E) After the two witnesses have finished preaching God's message, the beast that lives in the deep pit will come up and fight against them. It will win the battle and kill them. 8 (F) Their bodies will be left lying in the streets of the same great city where their Lord was nailed to a cross. And this city is spiritually like the city of Sodom or the country of Egypt.
9 For three and a half days the people of every nation, tribe, language, and race will stare at the bodies of these two witnesses and refuse to let them be buried. 10 Everyone on earth will celebrate and be happy. They will give gifts to each other, because of what happened to the two prophets who caused them so much trouble. 11 (G) But three and a half days later, God will breathe life into their bodies. They will stand up, and everyone who sees them will be terrified.
12 (H) The witnesses then heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Come up here.” And while their enemies were watching, they were taken up to heaven in a cloud. 13 (I) At that same moment there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were frightened and praised the God who rules in heaven.
14 The second horrible thing has now happened! And the third one will be here soon.
The Seventh Trumpet
15 (J) At the sound of the seventh trumpet, loud voices were heard in heaven. They said,
“Now the kingdom
of this world
belongs to our Lord
and to his Chosen One!
And he will rule
forever and ever!”
16 Then the 24 elders, who were seated on thrones in God's presence, knelt down and worshiped him. 17 They said,
“Lord God All-Powerful,
you are and you were,
and we thank you.
You used your great power
and started ruling.
18 (K) When the nations got angry,
you became angry too!
Now the time has come
for the dead
to be judged.
It is time for you to reward
your servants the prophets
and all your people
who honor your name,
no matter who they are.
It is time to destroy everyone
who has destroyed
the earth.”
19 (L) The door to God's temple in heaven was then opened, and the sacred chest[b] could be seen inside the temple. I saw lightning and heard roars of thunder. The earth trembled and huge hailstones fell to the ground.
Revelation 11
Wycliffe Bible
11 And a reed like a rod was given to me, and it was said to me, Rise thou, and mete the temple of God, and the altar, and men that worship in it.
2 But cast thou out the foreyard, that is without the temple, and mete not it [Forsooth cast out the porch, that is without the temple, and mete it not]; for it is given to heathen men, and they shall defoul the holy city by forty months and twain [by forty months and two].
3 And I shall give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand days two hundred and sixty, and [they] shall be clothed with sackcloths.
4 These be two olives, and two candlesticks, and they stand in the sight of the Lord of the earth [standing in the sight of the Lord of the earth].
5 And if any man will harm them, fire shall go out of the mouth of them, and shall devour their enemies. And if any [man] will hurt them, thus it behooveth him to be slain.
6 These have power to close heaven [These have power to shut heaven], that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and they have power on [upon] waters, to turn them into blood; and to smite the earth with every plague [and to smite the earth with all plague, either vengeance], and as oft as they will.
7 And when they shall end their witnessing, the beast that ascendeth up from deepness [the beast that ascendeth up of the deepness], shall make battle against them, and shall overcome them, and shall slay them [and slay them].
8 And the bodies of them shall lie in the streets of the great city, that is called ghostly Sodom, and Egypt, where the Lord of them was crucified.
9 And some of the lineages, and of peoples, and of languages [and tongues], and of heathen men, shall see the bodies of them by three days and an half; and they shall not suffer the bodies of them to be put in burials.
10 And men inhabiting the earth shall have joy on [upon] them; and they shall make merry, and shall send gifts together, for these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.
11 And after three days and an half, the Spirit of life of God entered into them; and they stood on their feet, and great dread fell on them that saw them [and they stood upon their feet, and great dread fell upon them that saw them].
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them, Come up hither. And they ascended [up] into heaven in a cloud, and the enemies of them saw them.
13 And in that hour a great earth-moving was made, and the tenth part of the city fell down [and the tenth part of the city fell]; and the names of men seven thousand were slain in the earth-moving [and there be slain in the earth-moving the names of men seven thousand]; and the others were sent into dread, and gave glory to God of heaven.
14 The second woe is gone, and lo! the third woe shall come soon.
15 And the seventh angel trumpeted [And the seventh angel sang in trump], and great voices were made in heaven, and said, The realm of this world is made of our Lord, and of Christ, his Son [saying, The realm of this world is made our Lord's, and of Christ's, his Son]; and he shall reign into worlds of worlds. Amen.
16 And the four and twenty elder men [And the four and twenty seniors], that sat in their seats in the sight of the Lord, fell on their faces, and worshipped God,
17 and said [saying], We do thankings to thee, Lord God almighty, which art, and which were, and which art to coming [and which art to come]; which hast taken thy great virtue [that hast taken thy great virtue], and hast reigned.
18 And folks be wroth, and thy wrath came, and time of dead men to be deemed, and to yield meed to thy servants, and prophets, and hallows [and to yield hire to thy servants, prophets, and hallows], and dreading thy name, to small and to great, and to destroy them that corrupt the earth [and to destroy them that corrupted the earth].
19 And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple; and lightnings were made, and voices, and thunders, and earth-moving, and great hail.
Revelation 12
Contemporary English Version
The Woman and the Dragon
12 Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head. 2 She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain.
3 (A) Something else appeared in the sky. It was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and a crown on each of its seven heads. 4 (B) With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born.
5 (C) The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all nations with an iron rod. The boy was snatched away. He was taken to God and placed on his throne. 6 The woman ran into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Michael Fights the Dragon
7 (D) A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. 8 But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven 9 (E) and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. 10 (F) Then I heard a voice from heaven shout,
“Our God has shown
his saving power,
and his kingdom has come!
God's own Chosen One
has shown his authority.
Satan accused our people
in the presence of God
day and night.
Now he has been thrown out!
11 “Our people defeated Satan
because of the blood[a]
of the Lamb
and the message of God.
They were willing
to give up their lives.
12 “The heavens should rejoice,
together with everyone
who lives there.
But pity the earth
and the sea,
because the devil
was thrown down
to the earth.
He knows his time is short,
and he is very angry.”
13 When the dragon realized it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son. 14 (G) But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time.
15 The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. 16 But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon's mouth. 17 This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. 18 The dragon[b] stood on the beach beside the sea.
Revelation 12
Wycliffe Bible
12 And a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and in the head of her a crown of twelve stars.
2 And she had in womb, and she crieth [And she having in womb, or being with child; and she cried], travailing of child, and is tormented, that she bear child.
3 And another sign was seen in heaven; and lo! a great red dragon, that had seven heads [having seven heads], and ten horns, and in the heads of him seven diadems.
4 And the tail of him drew the third part of [the] stars of heaven, and sent them into the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, that was to bearing child, that when she had born child, he should devour her son.
5 And she bare a man child, that was to ruling all folks in an iron rod [that was to rule all folks in an iron rod]; and her son was snatched (up) to God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman flew into wilderness, where she hath a place made ready of God, that he feed her there a thousand days two hundred and sixty.
7 And a great battle [And great battle] was made in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his angels;
8 and they had not might [more], neither the place of them was found more in heaven.
9 And that dragon was cast down, the great old serpent, that is called the Devil, and Satan, that deceiveth all the world; he was cast down [cast out] into the earth, and his angels were sent with him.
10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is made health, and virtue, and kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before the sight of our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him for the blood of the lamb, and for the word of his witnessing; and they loved not their lives till to the death [and they loved not their souls, or lives, unto the death].
12 Therefore, ye heavens, be ye glad, [Therefore, glad ye, heavens] and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the earth, and to the sea; for the fiend is come down to you, and hath great wrath [having great wrath], witting that he hath little time.
13 And after that the dragon saw, that he was cast down into the earth, he pursued the woman, that bare the man child.
14 And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, that she should fly into desert [that she should flee into desert], into her place, where she is fed by time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent sent out of his mouth after the woman water as a flood, that he should make her to be drawn of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened his mouth, and swallowed up the flood [and sopped up the flood], that the dragon sent [out] of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth against the woman [is wroth to the woman], and he went to make battle with others of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the witnessing of Jesus Christ.
18 And he stood on the gravel of the sea. [And he stood upon the gravel of the sea.]
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2001 by Terence P. Noble