¹⁶ The number of ^(A)mounted troops was ^(B)twice ten thousand times ten thousand; ^(C)I heard their number. ¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire^[a] and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were ^(D)like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^(E)did not repent of ^(F)the works of their hands nor give up worshiping ^(G)demons ^(H)and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their ^(I)sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with ^(J)a rainbow over his head, and ^(K)his face was like the sun, and ^(L)his legs like pillars of fire. ^2 (M)He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, ³ and called out with a loud voice, ^(N)like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. ⁴ And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, ^(O)“Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” ⁵ And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land ^(P)raised his right hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by ^(Q)him who lives forever and ever, ^(R)who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, ⁷ but that ^(S)in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, ^(T)just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, ^(U)“Take and ^(V)eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹ And I was told, ^(W)“You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

The Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given ^(X)a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, ² but do not measure ^(Y)the court outside the temple; leave that out, for ^(Z)it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for ^(AA)forty-two months. ³ And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for ^(AB)1,260 days, ^(AC)clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴ These are ^(AD)the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone would harm them, ^(AE)fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, ^(AF)this is how he is doomed to be killed. ⁶ They have the power ^(AG)to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and ^(AH)to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. ⁷ And when they have finished their testimony, ^(AI)the beast that rises from ^(AJ)the bottomless pit^{[b] (AK)}will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, ⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically^[c] is called ^(AL)Sodom and ^(AM)Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.