Revelation 1-11

Living Bible

1 This book unveils some of the future activities soon to occur in the life of Jesus Christ.^[a] God permitted him to reveal these things to his servant John in a vision; and then an angel was sent from heaven to explain the vision’s meaning. ² John wrote it all down—the words of God and Jesus Christ and everything he heard and saw.

³ If you read this prophecy aloud to the church, you will receive a special blessing from the Lord. Those who listen to it being read and do what it says will also be blessed. For the time is near when these things will all come true.

⁴ From: John

To: The seven churches in Turkey.^[b]

Dear Friends:

May you have grace and peace from God who is, and was, and is to come; and from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; ⁵ and from Jesus Christ who faithfully reveals all truth to us. He was the first to rise from death, to die no more.^[c] He is far greater than any king in all the earth. All praise to him who always loves us and who set us free from our sins by pouring out his lifeblood for us. ⁶ He has gathered us into his Kingdom and made us priests of God his Father. Give to him everlasting glory! He rules forever! Amen!

⁷ See! He is arriving, surrounded by clouds; and every eye shall see him—yes, and those who pierced him.^[d] And the nations will weep in sorrow and in terror when he comes. Yes! Amen! Let it be so!

⁸ “I am the A and the Z,^[e] the Beginning and the Ending of all things,” says God, who is the Lord, the All Powerful One who is, and was, and is coming again!

⁹ It is I, your brother John, a fellow sufferer for the Lord’s sake, who am writing this letter to you. I, too, have shared the patience Jesus gives, and we shall share his Kingdom!

I was on the island of Patmos, exiled there for preaching the Word of God and for telling what I knew about Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ It was the Lord’s Day and I was worshiping, when suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me, a voice that sounded like a trumpet blast, ¹¹ saying, “I am A and Z, the First and Last!” And then I heard him say, “Write down everything you see, and send your letter to the seven churches in Turkey:^[f] to the church in Ephesus, the one in Smyrna, and those in Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹² When I turned to see who was speaking, there behind me were seven candlesticks of gold. ¹³ And standing among them was one who looked like Jesus, who called himself the Son of Man,^[g] wearing a long robe circled with a golden band across his chest. ¹⁴ His hair was white as wool or snow,^[h] and his eyes penetrated like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet gleamed like burnished bronze, and his voice thundered like the waves against the shore. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand and a sharp, double-bladed sword in his mouth,^[i] and his face shone like the power of the sun in unclouded brilliance.

^17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; but he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! Though I am the First and Last, the Living One who died, who is now alive forevermore, who has the keys of hell and death—don’t be afraid! ¹⁹ Write down what you have just seen and what will soon be shown to you. ²⁰ This is the meaning of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks: The seven stars are the leaders^[j] of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the churches themselves.

2 “Write a letter to the leader^[k] of the church at Ephesus and tell him this:

“I write to inform you of a message from him who walks among the churches and holds their leaders in his right hand.

“He says to you: ² I know how many good things you are doing. I have watched your hard work and your patience; I know you don’t tolerate sin among your members, and you have carefully examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but aren’t. You have found out how they lie. ³ You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

⁴ “Yet there is one thing wrong; you don’t love me as at first! ⁵ Think about those times of your first love (how different now!) and turn back to me again and work as you did before; or else I will come and remove your candlestick from its place among the churches.

⁶ “But there is this about you that is good: You hate the deeds of the licentious Nicolaitans,^[l] just as I do.

⁷ “Let this message sink into the ears of anyone who listens to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: To everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God.

⁸ “To the leader of the church in Smyrna write this letter:

“This message is from him who is the First and Last, who was dead and then came back to life.

⁹ “I know how much you suffer for the Lord, and I know all about your poverty (but you have heavenly riches!). I know the slander of those opposing you, who say that they are Jews—the children of God—but they aren’t, for they support the cause of Satan. ¹⁰ Stop being afraid of what you are about to suffer—for the devil will soon throw some of you into prison to test you. You will be persecuted for ‘ten days.’ Remain faithful even when facing death and I will give you the crown of life—an unending, glorious future.^{[m] 11} Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: He who is victorious shall not be hurt by the Second Death.

¹² “Write this letter to the leader of the church in Pergamos:

“This message is from him who wields the sharp and double-bladed sword. ¹³ I am fully aware that you live in the city where Satan’s throne is, at the center of satanic worship; and yet you have remained loyal to me and refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you by Satan’s devotees.

¹⁴ “And yet I have a few things against you. You tolerate some among you who do as Balaam did when he taught Balak how to ruin the people of Israel by involving them in sexual sin and encouraging them to go to idol feasts. ¹⁵ Yes, you have some of these very same followers of Balaam^[n] among you!

¹⁶ “Change your mind and attitude, or else I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁷ “Let everyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: Everyone who is victorious shall eat of the hidden manna, the secret nourishment from heaven; and I will give to each a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one else knows except the one receiving it.

¹⁸ “Write this letter to the leader of the church in Thyatira:

“This is a message from the Son of God, whose eyes penetrate like flames of fire, whose feet are like glowing brass.

¹⁹ “I am aware of all your good deeds—your kindness to the poor, your gifts and service to them; also I know your love and faith and patience, and I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

²⁰ “Yet I have this against you: You are permitting that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach my servants that sex sin is not a serious matter; she urges them to practice immorality and to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to change her mind and attitude, but she refused. ²² Pay attention now to what I am saying: I will lay her upon a sickbed of intense affliction, along with all her immoral followers,^[o] unless they turn again to me, repenting of their sin with her; ²³ and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches deep within men’s hearts, and minds; I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.

^24-25 “As for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, really), I will ask nothing further of you; only hold tightly to what you have until I come.

²⁶ “To everyone who overcomes—who to the very end keeps on doing things that please me—I will give power over the nations. ²⁷ You will rule them with a rod of iron just as my Father gave me the authority to rule them; they will be shattered like a pot of clay that is broken into tiny pieces. ²⁸ And I will give you the Morning Star!

²⁹ “Let all who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

3 “To the leader of the church in Sardis write this letter:

“This message is sent to you by the one who has the sevenfold Spirit^[p] of God and the seven stars.

“I know your reputation as a live and active church, but you are dead. ² Now wake up! Strengthen what little remains—for even what is left is at the point of death. Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God. ³ Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. Unless you do, I will come suddenly upon you, unexpected as a thief, and punish you.

⁴ “Yet even there in Sardis some haven’t soiled their garments with the world’s filth; they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ Everyone who conquers will be clothed in white, and I will not erase his name from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that he is mine.

⁶ “Let all who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

⁷ “Write this letter to the leader of the church in Philadelphia.

“This message is sent to you by the one who is holy and true and has the key of David to open what no one can shut and to shut what no one can open.

⁸ “I know you well; you aren’t strong, but you have tried to obey^[q] and have not denied my Name. Therefore I have opened a door to you that no one can shut.

⁹ “Note this: I will force those supporting the causes of Satan while claiming to be mine^[r] (but they aren’t—they are lying) to fall at your feet and acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

¹⁰ “Because you have patiently obeyed me despite the persecution, therefore I will protect you from the time of Great Tribulation and temptation,^[s] which will come upon the world to test everyone alive. ¹¹ Look, I am coming soon!^[t] Hold tightly to the little strength you have—so that no one will take away your crown.

¹² “As for the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; he will be secure and will go out no more; and I will write my God’s Name on him, and he will be a citizen in the city of my God—the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from my God; and he will have my new Name inscribed upon him.

¹³ “Let all who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

¹⁴ “Write this letter to the leader of the church in Laodicea:

“This message is from the one who stands firm,^[u] the faithful and true Witness of all that is or was or evermore shall be, the primeval source of God’s creation:

¹⁵ “I know you well—you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! ¹⁶ But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!

¹⁷ “You say, ‘I am rich, with everything I want; I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that spiritually you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

¹⁸ “My advice to you is to buy pure gold from me, gold purified by fire—only then will you truly be rich. And to purchase from me white garments, clean and pure, so you won’t be naked and ashamed; and to get medicine from me to heal your eyes and give you back your sight. ¹⁹ I continually discipline and punish everyone I love; so I must punish you unless you turn from your indifference and become enthusiastic about the things of God.

²⁰ “Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me. ²¹ I will let everyone who conquers sit beside me on my throne, just as I took my place with my Father on his throne when I had conquered. ²² Let those who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

4 Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before, which sounded like a mighty trumpet blast, spoke to me and said, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen in the future!”

² And instantly I was in spirit there in heaven and saw—oh, the glory of it!—a throne and someone sitting on it! ³ Great bursts of light flashed forth from him as from a glittering diamond or from a shining ruby, and a rainbow glowing like an emerald encircled his throne. ⁴ Twenty-four smaller thrones surrounded his, with twenty-four Elders sitting on them; all were clothed in white, with golden crowns upon their heads. ⁵ Lightning and thunder issued from the throne, and there were voices in the thunder. Directly in front of his throne were seven lighted lamps representing the sevenfold Spirit of God.^{[v] 6} Spread out before it was a shiny crystal sea. Four Living Beings, dotted front and back with eyes, stood at the throne’s four sides. ⁷ The first of these Living Beings was in the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had the face of a man; and the fourth, the form of an eagle, with wings spread out as though in flight. ⁸ Each of these Living Beings had six wings, and the central sections of their wings were covered with eyes. Day after day and night after night they kept on saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty—the one who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ And when the Living Beings gave glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four Elders fell down before him and worshiped him, the Eternal Living One, and cast their crowns before the throne, singing, ¹¹ “O Lord, you are worthy to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for you have created all things. They were created and called into being by your act of will.”

5 And I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne, a scroll with writing on the inside and on the back, and sealed with seven seals. ² A mighty angel with a loud voice was shouting out this question: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and to unroll it?” ³ But no one in all heaven or earth or from among the dead was permitted to open and read it.

⁴ Then I wept with disappointment^[w] because no one anywhere was worthy; no one could tell us what it said.

⁵ But one of the twenty-four Elders said to me, “Stop crying, for look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, and proved himself worthy to open the scroll and to break its seven seals.”

⁶ I looked and saw a Lamb standing there before the twenty-four Elders, in front of the throne and the Living Beings, and on the Lamb were wounds that once had caused his death. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God, sent out into every part of the world. ⁷ He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting upon the throne. ⁸ And as he took the scroll, the twenty-four Elders fell down before the Lamb, each with a harp and golden vials filled with incense—the prayers of God’s people!

⁹ They were singing^[x] him a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it; for you were slain, and your blood has bought people from every nation as gifts for God. ¹⁰ And you have gathered them into a kingdom and made them priests of our God; they shall reign upon the earth.”

¹¹ Then in my vision I heard the singing of millions of angels surrounding the throne and the Living Beings and the Elders: ¹² “The Lamb is worthy (loudly they sang it!), the Lamb who was slain. He is worthy to receive the power, and the riches, and the wisdom, and the strength, and the honor, and the glory, and the blessing.”

¹³ And then I heard everyone in heaven and earth, and from the dead beneath the earth and in the sea, exclaiming, “The blessing and the honor and the glory and the power belong to the one sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.” ¹⁴ And the four Living Beings kept saying, “Amen!” And the twenty-four Elders fell down and worshiped him.

6 As I watched, the Lamb broke the first seal and began to unroll the scroll. Then one of the four Living Beings, with a voice that sounded like thunder, said, “Come!”

² I looked, and there in front of me was a white horse. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed upon his head; he rode out to conquer in many battles and win the war.

³ Then he unrolled the scroll to the second seal and broke it open, too. And I heard the second Living Being say, “Come!”

⁴ This time a red horse rode out. Its rider was given a long sword and the authority to banish peace and bring anarchy to the earth; war and killing broke out everywhere.

⁵ When he had broken the third seal, I heard the third Living Being say, “Come!” And I saw a black horse, with its rider holding a pair of balances in his hand. ⁶ And a voice from among the four Living Beings said, “A loaf of bread for $20, or three pounds of barley flour,A loaf of bread for $20, or three pounds of barley flour, literally, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius” there is no olive oil or wine, literally, “do not damage the oil and wine.” but there is no olive oil or wine.”

⁷ And when the fourth seal was broken, I heard the fourth Living Being say, “Come!” ⁸ And now I saw a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death. And there followed after him another horse whose rider’s name was Hell. They were given control of one-fourth of the earth, to kill with war and famine and disease and wild animals.

⁹ And when he broke open the fifth seal, I saw an altar, and underneath it all the souls of those who had been martyred for preaching the Word of God and for being faithful in their witnessing. ¹⁰ They called loudly to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge the people of the earth for what they’ve done to us? When will you avenge our blood against those living on the earth?” ¹¹ White robes were given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little longer until their other brothers, fellow servants of Jesus, had been martyred on the earth and joined them.

¹² I watched as he broke the sixth seal, and there was a vast earthquake; and the sun became dark like black cloth, and the moon was blood-red. ¹³ Then the stars of heaven appeared to be falling to earth^[z]—like green fruit from fig trees buffeted by mighty winds. ¹⁴ And the starry heavens disappeared^[aa] as though rolled up like a scroll and taken away; and every mountain and island shook and shifted. ¹⁵ The kings of the earth, and world leaders, and rich men, and high-ranking military officers, and all men great and small, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ and cried to the mountains to crush them. “Fall on us,” they pleaded, “and hide us from the face of the one sitting on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb, ¹⁷ because the great day of their anger has come, and who can survive it?”

7 Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds from blowing so that not a leaf rustled in the trees, and the ocean became as smooth as glass. ² And I saw another angel coming from the east, carrying the Great Seal of the Living God. And he shouted out to those four angels who had been given power to injure earth and sea, ³ “Wait! Don’t do anything yet—hurt neither earth nor sea nor trees—until we have placed the Seal of God upon the foreheads of his servants.”

^4-8 How many were given this mark? I heard the number—it was 144,000; out of all twelve tribes of Israel, as listed here:

Judah	12,000
Reuben	12,000
Gad	12,000
Asher	12,000
Naphtali	12,000
Manasseh	12,000
Simeon	12,000
Levi	12,000
Issachar	12,000
Zebulun	12,000
Joseph	12,000
Benjamin	12,000

⁹ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from all nations and provinces and languages, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God upon the throne, and from the Lamb.”

¹¹ And now all the angels were crowding around the throne and around the Elders and the four Living Beings, and falling face down before the throne and worshiping God. ¹² “Amen!” they said. “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be to our God forever and forever. Amen!”

¹³ Then one of the twenty-four Elders asked me, “Do you know who these are, who are clothed in white, and where they come from?”

¹⁴ “No, sir,” I replied. “Please tell me.”

“These are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation,” he said; “they washed their robes and whitened them by the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ That is why they are here before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his temple. The one sitting on the throne will shelter them; ¹⁶ they will never be hungry again, nor thirsty, and they will be fully protected from the scorching noontime heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb standing in front of the throne^[ab] will feed them and be their Shepherd and lead them to the springs of the Water of Life. And God will wipe their tears away.”

8 When the Lamb had broken the seventh seal, there was silence throughout all heaven for what seemed like half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels that stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

³ Then another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; and a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people, to offer upon the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ And the perfume of the incense mixed with prayers ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.

⁵ Then the angel filled the censer with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed and rumbled, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.

⁶ Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts.

⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down upon the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire so that one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass.

^8-9 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and what appeared to be a huge burning mountain was thrown into the sea, destroying a third of all the ships; and a third of the sea turned red as blood;^[ac] and a third of the fish were killed.

¹⁰ The third angel blew, and a great flaming star fell from heaven upon a third of the rivers and springs. ¹¹ The star was called “Bitterness”^[ad] because it poisoned a third of all the water on the earth and many people died.

¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and immediately a third of the sun was blighted and darkened, and a third of the moon and the stars so that the daylight was dimmed by a third, and the nighttime darkness deepened. ¹³ As I watched, I saw a solitary eagle flying through the heavens crying loudly, “Woe, woe, woe to the people of the earth because of the terrible things that will soon happen when the three remaining angels blow their trumpets.”

9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw one who had fallen to earth from heaven,^[ae] and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. ² When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from some huge furnace, and the sun and air were darkened by the smoke.

³ Then locusts came from the smoke and descended onto the earth and were given power to sting like scorpions. ⁴ They were told not to hurt the grass or plants or trees, but to attack those people who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not to kill them, but to torture them for five months with agony like the pain of scorpion stings. ⁶ In those days men will try to kill themselves but won’t be able to—death will not come. They will long to die—but death will flee away!

⁷ The locusts looked like horses armored for battle. They had what looked like golden crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like men’s. ⁸ Their hair was long like women’s, and their teeth were those of lions. ⁹ They wore breastplates that seemed to be of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had stinging tails like scorpions, and their power to hurt, given to them for five months, was in their tails. ¹¹ Their king is the Prince of the bottomless pit whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon (and in English, the Destroyer).^[af]

¹² One terror now ends, but there are two more coming!

¹³ The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the golden altar that stands before the throne of God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel, “Release the four mighty demons^[ag] held bound at the great River Euphrates.” ¹⁵ They had been kept in readiness for that year and month and day and hour, and now they were turned loose to kill a third of all mankind. ¹⁶ They led an army of 200,000,000 warriors^[ah]—I heard an announcement of how many there were.

^17-18 I saw their horses spread out before me in my vision; their riders wore fiery-red breastplates, though some were sky-blue and others yellow. The horses’ heads looked much like lions’, and smoke and fire and flaming sulphur billowed from their mouths, killing one-third of all mankind. ¹⁹ Their power of death was not only in their mouths, but in their tails as well, for their tails were similar to serpents’ heads that struck and bit with fatal wounds.

²⁰ But the men left alive after these plagues still refused to worship God! They would not renounce their demon-worship, nor their idols made of gold and silver, brass, stone, and wood—which neither see nor hear nor walk! ²¹ Neither did they change their mind and attitude about all their murders and witchcraft, their immorality and theft.

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face shone like the sun and his feet flashed with fire. ² And he held open in his hand a small scroll. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth ³ and gave a great shout—it was like the roar of a lion—and the seven thunders crashed their reply.

⁴ I was about to write what the thunders said when a voice from heaven called to me, “Don’t do it. Their words are not to be revealed.”

⁵ Then the mighty angel standing on the sea and land lifted his right hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it and the earth and all that it contains and the sea and its inhabitants, that there should be no more delay, ⁷ but that when the seventh angel blew his trumpet, then God’s veiled plan—mysterious through the ages ever since it was announced by his servants the prophets—would be fulfilled.

⁸ Then the voice from heaven spoke to me again, “Go and get the unrolled scroll from the mighty angel standing there upon the sea and land.”

⁹ So I approached him and asked him to give me the scroll. “Yes, take it and eat it,” he said. “At first it will taste like honey, but when you swallow it, it will make your stomach sour!” ¹⁰ So I took it from his hand, and ate it! And just as he had said, it was sweet in my mouth, but it gave me a stomachache when I swallowed it.

¹¹ Then he told me, “You must prophesy further about many peoples, nations, tribes, and kings.”

11 Now I was given a measuring stick and told to go and measure the temple of God, including the inner court where the altar stands, and to count the number of worshipers.^{[ai] 2} “But do not measure the outer court,” I was told, “for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the Holy City for forty-two months.^{[aj] 3} And I will give power to my two witnesses to prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴ These two prophets are the two olive trees,^[ak] and two candlesticks standing before the God of all the earth. ⁵ Anyone trying to harm them will be killed by bursts of fire shooting from their mouths. ⁶ They have power to shut the skies so that no rain will fall during the three and a half years they prophesy, and to turn rivers and oceans to blood, and to send every kind of plague upon the earth as often as they wish.

⁷ When they complete the three and a half years of their solemn testimony, the tyrant who comes out of the bottomless pit^[al] will declare war against them and conquer and kill them; ^8-9 and for three and a half days their bodies will be exposed in the streets of Jerusalem (the city fittingly described as “Sodom” or “Egypt”)—the very place where their Lord was crucified. No one will be allowed to bury them, and people from many nations will crowd around to gaze at them. ¹⁰ And there will be a worldwide holiday—people everywhere will rejoice and give presents to each other and throw parties to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them so much!

¹¹ But after three and a half days, the spirit of life from God will enter them, and they will stand up! And great fear will fall on everyone. ¹² Then a loud voice will shout from heaven, “Come up!” And they will rise to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watch.

¹³ The same hour there will be a terrible earthquake that levels a tenth of the city, leaving 7,000 dead. Then everyone left will, in their terror, give glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe is past, but the third quickly follows:

¹⁵ For just then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting down from heaven, “The Kingdom of this world now belongs to our Lord, and to his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.”^[am]

¹⁶ And the twenty-four Elders sitting on their thrones before God threw themselves down in worship, saying, ¹⁷ “We give thanks, Lord God Almighty, who is and was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign. ¹⁸ The nations were angry with you, but now it is your turn to be angry with them. It is time to judge the dead and reward your servants—prophets and people alike, all who fear your Name, both great and small—and to destroy those who have caused destruction upon the earth.”

¹⁹ Then, in heaven, the temple of God was opened and the ark of his covenant could be seen inside. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed and roared, and there was a great hailstorm, and the world was shaken by a mighty earthquake.