Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

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.