Revelation 10-12

Common English Bible

John receives the open scroll

10 Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven. He was robed with a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet were like fiery pillars. ² He held an open scroll in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. ³ He called out with a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he called out, the seven thunders raised their voices. ⁴ When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.”

⁵ Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ He swore by the one who lives forever and always, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, and said, “The time is up. ⁷ In the days when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious purpose will be accomplished, fulfilling the good news he gave to his servants the prophets.”

⁸ Then the voice I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will make you sick to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” ¹⁰ So I took the scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. And it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it made my stomach churn. ¹¹ I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

Two witnesses

11 Then I was given a measuring rod, which was like a pole. And I was told, “Get up and measure God’s temple, the altar, and those who worship there. ² But don’t measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, because it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.

³ “And I will allow my two witnesses to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing mourning clothes. ⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone wants to hurt them, fire comes out of their mouth and burns up their enemies. So if anyone wants to hurt them, they have to be killed in this way. ⁶ They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. They also have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with any plague, as often as they wish.

⁷ “When they have finished their witnessing, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them, gain victory over them, and kill them. ⁸ Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹ And for three and a half days, members of the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies, but they won’t let their dead bodies be put in a tomb. ¹⁰ Those who live on earth will rejoice over them. They will celebrate and give each other gifts, because these two prophets had brought such pain to those who live on earth.

¹¹ “But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear came over those who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. ¹³ At that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed by the earthquake, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

¹⁴ The second horror is over. The third horror is coming soon.

Seventh trumpet

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying,

¹⁶ Then the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshipped God. ¹⁷ They said,

¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the chest containing his covenant appeared in his temple. There were lightning, voices, thunder, an earthquake, and large hail.

A woman, her child, and the dragon

12 Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant, and she cried out because she was in labor, in pain from giving birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: it was a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. ⁴ His tail swept down a third of heaven’s stars and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and his throne. ⁶ Then the woman fled into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her. There she will be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

Michael and the dragon

⁷ Then there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, ⁸ but they did not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ So the great dragon was thrown down. The old snake, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth; and his angels were thrown down with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,

The dragon pursues the woman

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he chased the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she could fly to her place in the desert. There she would be taken care of—out of the snake’s reach—for a time and times and half a time. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the snake poured a river of water after the woman so that the river would sweep her away. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon poured out of his mouth. ¹⁷ So the dragon was furious with the woman, and he went off to make war on the rest of her children, on those who keep God’s commandments and hold firmly to the witness of Jesus.

The beast from the sea

¹⁸ Then the dragon stood on the seashore,