Beginning
The animal from the sea
13 1-3 Then, as I stood on the sand of the sea-shore, there rose out of the sea before my eyes an animal with seven heads and ten horns. There were diadems upon its horns and blasphemous names upon its heads. The animal which I saw had the appearance of a leopard, though it had the feet of a bear and a mouth like the mouth of a lion. Then the dragon gave it his own power and throne and great authority. One of its heads appeared to have been wounded to death but the mortal wound had healed.
4 The whole earth followed the animal with wonder, and they worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the animal. Then they worshipped the animal, too, saying, “Who is like the animal? Who could make war against it?”
5 It was allowed to speak monstrous blasphemies and to exert its authority for forty-two months.
6-8 So it poured out blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling place and those who live in Heaven. Moreover, it was permitted to make war upon the saints and to conquer them; the authority given to it extended over every tribe and people and language and nation. All the inhabitants of the earth will worship it—all those whose names have not been written in the book of life which belongs to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Parenthetical: a word to the reader
9-10 Let the listener hear this: If any man is destined for captivity he will go into captivity. If any man kills with the sword he must himself be killed with the sword. Amid all this stands the endurance and faith of the saints.
The animal from the earth
11-12 Then I saw another animal rising out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb but it spoke in the voice of a dragon. It uses the full authority of the first animal in its presence. It compels the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first animal—the one with the mortal wound which had healed.
13-15 It performs great signs: before men’s eyes it makes fire fall down from heaven to earth. It deceives the inhabitants of the earth by the signs which it is allowed to perform in the presence of the animal, and it tells them to make a statue in honour of the animal which received the sword-thrust and yet survived. Further, it was allowed to give the breath of life to the statue of the animal so that the statue could speak and condemn to death all those who do not worship its statue.
16-18 Then it compels all, small and great, rich and poor, free men and slaves, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads. The purpose of this is that no one should be able to buy or sell unless he bears the mark of the name of the animal or the number of its name. Understanding is needed here: let every thinking man calculate the number of the animal. It is the number of a man, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
The vision of the Lamb and the first of the redeemed
14 1-5 Then I looked again and before my eyes the Lamb was standing on Mount Sion, and with him were a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written upon their foreheads. Then I heard a sound coming from Heaven like the roar of a great waterfall and the heavy rolling of thunder. Yet the sound which I heard was also like the music of harpists sweeping their strings. And now they are singing a new song of praise before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn that song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. These are the men who have never defiled themselves with women, for they are celibate. These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever he may go; these men have been redeemed from among mankind as first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. They have never been guilty of any falsehood; they are beyond reproach.
The angel with the gospel
6-7 Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, holding the everlasting Gospel to proclaim to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation and tribe and language and people. He was crying in a loud voice, “Reverence God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment has come! Worship him who made Heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
The angel of doom
8 Then another, a second angel, followed him crying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She who made all nations drink the wine of her passionate unfaithfulness!”
The angel of judgment
9-11 Then a third angel followed these two, crying in a loud voice, “If any man worships the animal and its statue and bears its mark upon his forehead or upon his hand, then that man shall drink the wine of God’s passion, poured undiluted into the cup of his wrath. He shall be tortured by fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. The smoke of such men’s torture ascends for timeless ages, and there is no respite from it day or night. Such are the worshippers of the animal and its statue and among their number are all who bear the mark of its name.”
The call to stand fast
12 In all this stands the endurance of the saints—those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
The security of the saints
13 Then I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, “Write this! From henceforth happy are the dead who die in the Lord!” “Happy indeed,” says the Spirit, “for they rest from their labours and their deeds go with them!”
The harvest of God’s wrath
14 Once again I looked, and a white cloud appeared before me with someone sitting upon the cloud with the appearance of ‘the Son of Man’. He had a golden crown on his head, and held a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 Then another angel came out from the Temple, calling in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time of reaping has come and the harvest of the earth is fully ripe!”
16 Then the one sitting upon the cloud swung his sickle upon the earth, and the reaping of the earth was done.
17 Then another angel came out from the Temple in Heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
18 Yet another angel came out from the altar where he had command over the fire, and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and harvest the clusters from the vineyard of the earth for the grapes are fully ripe!”
19-20 Then the angel swung his sickle upon the earth and gathered the harvest of the earth’s vineyard, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The grapes were trodden outside the city, and out of the winepress flowed blood for two hundred miles in a stream as high as the horses’ bridles.
The seven last plagues prepared
15 Then I saw another sign in Heaven, vast and awe-inspiring: seven angels are holding the seven last plagues, and with these the wrath of God is brought to an end.
The hymn of the redeemed
2-4 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass shot through with fire, and upon this glassy sea were standing those who had emerged victorious from the fight with the animal, its statue and the number which denotes its name. In their hands they hold harps which God has given them, and they are singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, and these are the words they sing: ‘Great and marvellous are your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O king of the saints! Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested!”
The angels leave the Temple of God—
5-6 Later in my vision I saw the Temple of the tabernacle of testimony in Heaven wide open, and out of the Temple came forth the seven angels who hold the seven plagues. They were dressed in spotless shining linen, and they were girded round their breasts with golden girdles.
7-8 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives for timeless ages. The Temple was filled with smoke from the glory and power of God, and no one could enter the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were past and over.
—and are ordered to pour out the bowls of his wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the Temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out upon the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God!”
The first bowl: Ulcers
2 The first angel went off and emptied his bowl upon the earth. Whereupon loathsome and malignant ulcers attacked all those who bore the mark of the animal and worshipped its statue.
The second bowl: Death in the sea
3 The second angel emptied his bowl into the sea, which turned into a fluid like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing in it died.
The third bowl: Water becomes blood
4-6 Then the third angel emptied his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned into blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, “You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be, because you have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.”
7 And I heard the altar say, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”
The fourth bowl: Scorching heat
8-9 The fourth angel emptied his bowl over the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch men in its fiery blaze. Then men were terribly burned in the heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has control over these afflictions; but they neither repented nor gave him glory.
The fifth bowl: The plague of darkness
10-11 Then the fifth angel emptied his bowl upon the throne of the animal. Its kingdom was plunged into darkness; men gnawed their tongues in agony, cursed the God of Heaven for their pain and their ulcers, but refused to repent of what they had done.
The sixth bowl: The great river dried up
12 Then the sixth angel emptied his bowl upon the great River Euphrates. The waters of that river were dried up to prepare a road for the kings from the east.
13-14 And then I noticed three foul spirits, looking like frogs emerging from the mouths of the dragon, the animal and the false prophet. They are diabolical spirits performing wonders and they set out to muster all the kings of the world for battle on the great day of God, the Almighty.
The words in the background
15 “See, I am coming like a thief! Happy is the man who stays awake and keeps his clothes at his side, so that he will not have to walk naked and men see his shame.”
16 So they brought them together to the place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon.
The seventh bowl: Devastation from the air
17 The seventh angel emptied his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the Temple, from the throne, saying, “The end has come!”
18-21 Then followed flashes of lightning, noises and peals of thunder. There was a terrific earthquake, the like of which no man has ever seen since mankind began to live upon the earth—so great and tremendous was this earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of all the nations fell in ruins. And God called to mind Babylon the great and made her drink the cup of the wine of his furious wrath. Every island fled and the mountains vanished. Great hailstones like heavy weights fell from the sky and men blasphemed God for the curse of the hail, for it fell upon them with savage and fearful blows.
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.