Book of Common Prayer

11 Then I was given a long stick. And he said, `Go and measure God's temple and the altar, and count the people who worship there.

² Do not measure the part outside the temple. Leave it out, because it has been given to the people who do not believe in God. They will walk in the holy city for forty-two months.

³ I will give power to the two men who speak for me. They will speak words from God. They will continue to speak for forty-two months. They will wear clothes like people wear to show they are sad.'

⁴ These two men are the two olive trees and the two lamps which stand in front of the Lord of the earth.

⁵ If any one wants to hurt them, fire comes out of their mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed in this way.

⁶ These two men can stop the sky from raining all the days that they speak words from God. And they can turn the water into blood. They can bring all kinds of trouble to the earth as often as they want.

⁷ There is a beast which is a wild animal in the big hole that has no bottom. When the two men have finished talking, the beast will come up out of the hole. It will fight with the men. It will win over them and kill them.

⁸ Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the big city. This city is called, `Sodom' and `Egypt,' because it is like them. Also it is where our Lord was nailed to a cross.

⁹ People from many nations, tribes, languages, and countries will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days. They will not let anyone bury them.

¹⁰ The people on earth will be very glad to see them dead. They will have a happy time. They will give gifts to each other because these two men from God had troubled the people on the earth.

¹¹ But after the three and a half days, life came into them. They stood on their feet. And all those who saw them were very much afraid.

¹² Then they heard a loud voice from the sky saying to them, `Come up here!' They went up into the sky in a cloud. And the men who hated them saw them go up.

¹³ At that time, the earth shook very much. A tenth part of the city fell down. Seven thousand people were killed by the shaking of the earth. The other people were very much afraid and they give glory to God in heaven.

¹⁴ The second trouble is gone. The third trouble is coming soon.

¹⁴ Jesus was driving a bad spirit out of a man who could not talk. When the spirit left him, the man could talk. The people were surprised.

¹⁵ But some of them said, `This man drives out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub, the chief of bad spirits.'

¹⁶ Other people wanted to test Jesus. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

¹⁷ But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said, `If one part of any country fights against the other part of the country, that country is spoiled. And if one part of any family fights against the other part of the family, it cannot stand.

¹⁸ If Satan fights against himself, how will his kingdom stand? You say I drive out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub.

¹⁹ If I drive out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub, by whose help do your own people drive them out? Your own people will judge you for this!

²⁰ But if I drive out bad spirits by the help of God, then know this, God's kingdom is here with you now.

²¹ `A strong man has something in his hand to fight. He guards his place. He will not lose his things.

²² But when a stronger man comes, he catches the man who guards his house. He will take away what is in the man's hand. And he will take his things and give them to his friends.

²³ `Anyone who is not with me is against me. Anyone who does not work with me, works against me.'

²⁴ `When a bad spirit has gone out of a man, he goes through dry places. He looks for a place to rest, but he does not find any. Then he says, "I will go back to my house from where I came."

²⁵ `When he comes back, he finds it clean and all fixed up.

²⁶ Then he goes and brings seven other spirits who are worse than he is. They go in and live there. Now the man is worse than he was at first.'