Beginning
The wild animal from the sea
13 Then I saw a wild animal that was coming up out of the sea.[a] It had ten horns and there was a crown on each horn. The animal also had seven heads. On each head there was a bad name that insulted God. 2 The wild animal that I saw was like a leopard. But its feet were like a bear's feet and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave his own power and great authority to the wild animal so that it could rule as king.
3 Someone had hurt one of the wild animal's heads with a bad wound. It seemed that it would soon die. But the wound in the animal's head had become well again. This surprised all the people who were living on the earth. As a result, they were ready to obey what the wild animal said. 4 People worshipped the dragon because he had given his authority to the wild animal. They also worshipped the wild animal. They said, ‘Nobody is like this animal! Nobody is strong enough to fight against him!’
5 The wild animal received authority to rule people for 42 months. It could speak proud words and insult God. 6 So it started to speak against God. It insulted God's name and the place where he lives, as well as the people who live there in heaven. 7 It received power to fight a war against God's own people and to win against them. It received authority to rule over people from every nation, people from every tribe and people from every language. 8 Nearly all the people who live on the earth will worship the wild animal. But those people whose names are in the Lamb's book of life will not worship it.[b] The Lamb wrote the names of these believers in his book from the beginning of the world. He is the Lamb that people killed as a sacrifice.
9 Everyone who can understand should listen carefully to these words:
10 ‘If it is right for someone's enemy to catch him, that is what will happen.
If it is right for someone's enemy to kill him with a sword, that is what will happen.’
This means that God's people must be patient and strong. They must continue to trust God.[c]
The wild animal from the land
11 Then I saw a second wild animal. This one was coming up out of the ground.[d] It had two horns like a lamb's horns. But it spoke like a dragon. 12 It worked for the first wild animal and it used the authority of the first wild animal. It made all the people on earth worship the first wild animal. That first animal was the one that someone had hurt very much. It seemed that it would soon die but it had become well again.
13 The second wild animal did great miracles. It even caused fire to come down from heaven to the earth, while people watched. 14 It used the authority of the first wild animal to do many miracles. In that way, it deceived the people who lived on the earth. It told them to make an image of the first wild animal. This was the animal that was still alive after a sword had given it a bad wound. 15 The second wild animal received power to give life to the image of the first wild animal. As a result, the image could speak. It said, ‘Anyone who refuses to worship me must die!’
16 The second wild animal also caused everyone to receive a mark. Everyone received a mark on their right hand or on the front of their head. This included important people and ordinary people, rich people and poor people, free people and slaves. 17 Nobody could buy anything unless they had this mark on them. Nor could they sell anything. This mark shows the wild animal's name or the number of its name.
18 You must think carefully so that you can understand this number. Anyone who is wise should try to understand what the wild animal's number means. It is a human number. The number is 666.
The Lamb and the 144,000 people
14 Then I looked again and I saw the Lamb. He was standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. There were 144,000 people there with him. The Lamb's name and his Father's name were written on the front of those people's heads.
2 Then I heard a loud sound which came from heaven. The noise was like water that pours along a river very fast. It was like the loud noise of thunder. The sound was like people who were making music with harps. 3 The 144,000 people were singing a new song that they had learned. They sang it in front of the throne. They sang in front of the four beings that are alive and in front of the leaders. Only these 144,000 people could learn the new song. They are the people that God had saved from among the people who lived on the earth.
4 These 144,000 people have kept themselves pure. They have not had sex with women in a wrong way. They follow the Lamb everywhere that he goes. God has saved them from among the people of the world and he has paid for their sins. They are the first people to become a gift to God and to the Lamb. 5 They have not spoken any lies. They have done nothing wrong.[e]
The three angels with messages
6 Then I saw another angel who was flying high in the sky above me. He brought God's message of good news that is always true. He came to tell this news to everyone who lives on the earth. He would tell it to people from every nation, from every tribe and from every language. 7 He said in a loud voice, ‘Respect God and give him honour! Now it is time for him to judge people. He made the sky and the earth and the sea. He also made the springs of water. So worship him!’
8 A second angel followed the first one. He said, ‘God has destroyed Babylon! It is no longer a great city! It has caused people everywhere to do the same bad things as it enjoys. She is like a prostitute who makes men become drunk and have sex in a wrong way. She has caused them to turn away from God.’[f]
9 A third angel followed the other two angels. He said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the wild animal and its idol, God will punish them. If anyone receives that animal's mark on their head or on their hand, God will punish them. 10 God will be very angry with all those people. They will be like people who must drink God's strong wine. When they drink wine from the cup of God's anger, they will have terrible pain. Fire and sulphur will burn them. God's angels and the Lamb will watch while God punishes them. 11 The smoke will rise for ever while they burn. They will have no rest during the day or during the night. This will happen to everyone who worships the wild animal and its image. It will happen to everyone who receives the mark which shows its name.’
12 This means that God's people must go on being patient and strong. They must continue to obey God's rules. They must continue to trust Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice that spoke from heaven. It said, ‘Write this: From this time, people who continue to believe in the Lord and then they die will be very happy.’ God's Spirit says, ‘Yes, they will rest from their work. God will not forget the good things that they have done.’
The earth's harvest
14 Then I looked, and I saw a white cloud in front of me. I saw someone who was like a son of man.[g] He was sitting on the cloud. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp knife in his hand.[h] 15 Then another angel came out from God's house in heaven. He shouted with a loud voice to the person who was sitting on the cloud. He told him, ‘Use your sharp knife and start to work. It is time to bring in the harvest. Cut down the plants and bring them in. The harvest on the earth is now ready.’
16 Then the person who sat on the cloud moved his sharp knife over the earth. He cut down the earth's plants and he brought in the harvest.[i]
17 Then another angel came out from God's house in heaven. He also had a sharp knife in his hand. 18 Again, another angel came from the altar where people offered gifts to God. This angel had authority for the fire on the altar.[j] He shouted with a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp knife. He told him, ‘Use your knife and cut the grapes off the earth's vine. The grapes are ready now to make wine.’
19 So the angel moved his sharp knife over the earth. He cut off the grapes which grew in the earth's vineyard. He threw the grapes into the winepress where God stamps on the grapes because he is very angry. 20 The winepress was outside the city. When God stamped on the grapes, the juice that came out of the winepress was blood.[k] The river of blood was very deep. It rose as high as horses' necks and it went as far as 300 kilometres.
The seven angels with the last troubles
15 Then I saw another very wonderful thing in the sky.[l] I saw seven angels with seven terrible troubles to hurt people. They are the final troubles. When they have finished, God will stop being angry.
2 Then I saw what seemed to be a glass sea. Fire was mixed in it. I also saw people who were standing at the edge of the glass sea. Those people had fought against the wild animal and they had won. They had won against its image and the number that means its name. They had fought and they had won. God had given them harps. They held the harps to make music. 3 Now they sang the song of God's servant, Moses, and the Lamb's song.[m] They sang this:
‘Lord God with all power,
what you do is great and wonderful!
Everything that you do is completely fair and honest.
You are King of all nations of the world.
4 Everyone will respect and obey you, Lord.
They will say how great your name is,
because only you are completely good.
People from every nation have seen what you do.
You always do what is right.
So all people will come and stand in front of you,
and they will worship you.’
5 After this I looked again. I saw that God's house in heaven was open. That house is like God's tent, where he lived among his people in the wilderness.[n] 6 The seven angels with the seven terrible troubles then came out of God's house. They were wearing clean, bright clothes that were made from linen. They had gold belts around the top part of their bodies. 7 Then one of the four beings that were alive gave seven gold bowls to the seven angels. God had poured his anger into the bowls. He is the God who is alive for ever. 8 Then God's house in heaven became full of smoke, which showed God's great glory and his power. As a result, nobody could go into God's house until the angels had finished sending the seven terrible troubles.
The seven bowls with the seven last troubles
16 Then I heard a loud voice speak from God's house in heaven. It said to the seven angels, ‘Take your seven bowls that are full of God's anger. Go and pour them out on the earth.’
2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land. As a result, very bad and painful sores appeared on people's skin. Everyone who had the wild animal's mark on them and who worshipped the animal's image had those sores.
3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. As a result, the sea became like the blood of a dead person. Everything that was living in the sea then died.
4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and on the springs of water. As a result, all the water became blood.
5 Then I heard the voice of the angel who had authority over the waters. He said to God,
‘Holy One, you are alive now and you always have been alive.
You are right in everything that you decide.
Now you have judged these people.
6 They have killed your people and your prophets.
They have caused your servants to bleed and to die.
So now you have given these bad people blood to drink.
That is what ought to happen to them. It is right.’
7 Then I heard a voice from the altar in heaven. It said,
‘Yes, Lord God, you have all authority.
When you judge people, it is the punishment that they deserve.’
8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. God gave authority to the sun so that it burned people with fire. 9 The strong heat burned people and it hurt them very much. As a result, they said bad things against God's name, because he had the power to cause these terrible troubles. But they refused to change how they lived. They refused to agree that God is great.
10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the wild animal. As a result, the whole kingdom that the wild animal ruled became dark. People were biting their tongues because of their great pain. 11 They cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and because of the sores on their skin. But they did not stop doing bad things.
12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates river. As a result, the river became dry. This prepared a way for kings from the east to march across it. 13 Then I saw three bad spirits that looked like frogs. One bad spirit came out of the dragon's mouth.[o] Another one came out of the first wild animal's mouth. The third one came out of the false prophet's mouth.[p] 14 Those bad spirits are the spirits of demons. They had the power to do miracles. They went to all the rulers in the whole world, to bring them together to fight in a big war. That war will happen on the great day of God, who has all power and authority.
15 The Lord says: ‘Listen! I will come secretly, like someone who robs people. If you continue to watch carefully, you will be happy. Keep your clothes with you all the time. Then, when I come, you will not be ashamed because you have no clothes.’[q]
16 Then the bad spirits brought the rulers together to fight in the big war. They came to the place that is called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.
17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. A voice spoke loudly from the throne in God's house. The voice said, ‘Now it has happened!’ 18 There was a great storm, with bright lightning and loud noises of thunder. The ground shook with a strong earthquake. The earthquake was stronger than anything that had happened since people first lived on the earth. 19 As a result, the great city of Babylon broke into three parts. When the ground shook, it also destroyed the big cities of other nations in the world. God did not forget the evil things that the people of the great city of Babylon had done. So they had to drink wine from the cup of God's great anger.
20 When the ground shook, every island in the sea disappeared. There were no more mountains anywhere. 21 Strong rain with stones of ice fell from the sky. The stones hit people and caused them great pain. The weight of each stone was about 50 kilograms. The people cursed God because the strong rain and the stones of ice caused them to have such terrible pain.[r]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.