Book of Common Prayer

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from the sky. In his hand he had the key to the big hole that has no bottom, and a big chain.

² He caught the dragon, that old snake who is called the devil and Satan. The angel tied him for a thousand years.

³ Then the angel threw him into the big hole that has no bottom. He shut it and locked him in. He did this so that the devil would not fool the nations again until the end of the thousand years. After that, the devil will be let free for a short time.

⁴ Then I saw thrones. Those who sat on them were given the right to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had their heads cut off because they told about Jesus and God's word. They had not worshipped the beast or its idol. And they had not taken its mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They became alive again and ruled with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵ The other dead people did not live again until the end of the thousand years. This is the first rising from death.

⁶ God has blessed those who rise this first time, and they are holy. They will not die the second kind of death. But they will be priests of God and of Christ. They will rule with him for the thousand years.

²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to teach his disciples. He said, `I must go to Jerusalem. I will have much trouble from the leaders, the chief priests, and the scribes. I will be killed. On the third day, I will be raised from death.'

²² Peter took him to one side and began to talk to him. He said, `Lord! May God stop it! This must never happen to you.'

²³ But Jesus turned to Peter and said, `Get away from me Satan! You are trying to make me do wrong. You are not thinking the way God thinks, but the way people think.'

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, `If anyone wants to come with me, he must leave what he himself wants to do. He must be willing to carry his cross and come with me.

²⁵ Anyone who wants to keep his life will lose it. And anyone who gives up his life for my sake will find it.

²⁶ What good will it do a man if he gets the whole world for himself, but loses his life? What can a person give to get back his life?

²⁷ The Son of Man will come with his angels and will be great like his Father. Then he will pay every man for what he has done.

²⁸ I tell you the truth. Some people are standing here who will not die before they see the Son of Man come in his kingdom.'