Beginning

The Vision of the Fifth Trumpet

9 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth^[a] from the sky.^[b] The star^[c] was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.^{[d] 2} It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit,^[e] and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like that of earthly scorpions. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm^[f] only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed^[g] to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor’s crowns that looked like gold, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like lions’ teeth. ⁹ They had breastplates like iron, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months. ¹¹ They had the angel of the bottomless pit^[h] ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon,^[i] and in Greek he is called Apollyon.^[j]

¹² The first catastrophe is over. After these things, there are still two more catastrophes to come.

The Vision of the Sixth Trumpet

¹³ When the sixth angel blew his trumpet, I heard a voice from the four^[k] horns of the gold altar in front of God. ¹⁴ It told the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River.” ¹⁵ So the four angels who were ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill one-third of humanity. ¹⁶ The number of cavalry troops was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.^[l]

¹⁷ This was how I saw the horses in my vision: The riders wore breastplates that had the color of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ By these three plagues—the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths—one-third of humanity was killed. ¹⁹ For the power of these horses is in their mouths and their tails. Their tails have heads like snakes, which they use to inflict pain.

²⁰ The rest of the people who survived these plagues did not repent from their evil actions^[m] or stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. ²¹ They did not repent from their murders, their witchcraft, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

The Vision of the Powerful Angel

10 Then I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like columns of fire. ² He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ he shouted in a loud voice as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke with voices of their own. ⁴ When the seven thunders spoke, I was going 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 whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay. ⁷ When the time approaches^[n] for the seventh angel to blow his trumpet, God’s secret plan^[o] will be fulfilled, as he had announced to his servants, the prophets.”

⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go and take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. “Take it and eat it,” he told me. “It will turn bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

¹⁰ So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it turned bitter in my stomach. ¹¹ Then the seven thunders^[p] told me, “You must prophesy again about many people, nations, languages, and kings.”

The Vision of the Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given a stick like a measuring rod. I was told, “Stand up and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count^[q] those who worship there. ² But don’t measure the courtyard outside the Temple. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the Holy City^[r] for 42 months. ³ I will give my two witnesses who wear sackcloth the authority to prophesy for 1,260 days.”

⁴ These witnesses^[s] are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing in the presence of the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone should want 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 manner. ⁶ These witnesses^[t] have authority to close the heavens in order to keep rain from falling while they are^[u] prophesying. They also have authority to turn bodies of water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague, as often as they desire.

⁷ When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit^[v] will wage war against them, conquer them, and kill them. ⁸ Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. ⁹ For three and a half days some members of the people, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies and will not allow them to be placed in a tomb. ¹⁰ Those living on earth will gloat over them, celebrate, and send gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those living on earth.

The Resurrection of the Witnesses

¹¹ But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Those who watched them were terrified. ¹² Then the witnesses^[w] heard a loud voice from heaven calling to them, “Come up here!” So they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³ At that moment a powerful earthquake struck. One-tenth of the city collapsed, 7,000 people were killed by the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second catastrophe is over. The third catastrophe is coming very soon.

The Vision of the Seventh Angel Blowing His Trumpet

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

¹⁶ Then the twenty-four elders who were sitting on their thrones in God’s presence fell on their faces and worshipped God. ¹⁷ They said,

¹⁹ Then the Temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen inside his Temple. There were flashes of lightning, noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

The Vision of a Woman Dressed with the Sun

12 A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed with the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a victor’s crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and was crying out from her labor pains, the agony of giving birth.

The Vision of the Red Dragon

³ Then another sign appeared in the sky: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on its heads. ⁴ Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and knocked them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule^[z] all the nations with an iron scepter. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne. ⁶ Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

The Vision of War in Heaven

⁷ Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels fought back. ⁸ But it was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ The huge dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, along with its angels.

The Vision of the Cry of Victory

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,

The Vision of Persecution of the Woman and Her Children

¹³ When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued^[ac] the woman who had given birth to the boy. ¹⁴ However, the woman was given the two wings of a large eagle so that she could fly away from the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time. ¹⁵ From its mouth the serpent spewed water like a river behind the woman in order to sweep her away with the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed from its mouth. ¹⁷ The dragon became angry with the woman and went away to do battle against the rest of her children, the ones who keep God’s commandments and hold on to the testimony about Jesus. ¹⁸ Then the dragon^[ad] stood on the sand of the seashore.^[ae]