Revelation 9; Revelation 10; Revelation 11; Revelation 12

Revelation 9

1 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

2 It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The smoke darkened the sun and the air.

3 Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like the power of earthly scorpions.

4 They were told not to harm any grass, green plant, or tree on the earth. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

5 They were not allowed to kill them. They were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion's sting.

6 At that time people will look for death and never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.

7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They seemed to have crowns that looked like gold on their heads. 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. The noise from their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle.

10 They had tails and stingers like scorpions. They had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months.

11 The king who ruled them was the angel from the bottomless pit. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

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

13 When the sixth angel blew his trumpet, I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar in front of God.

14 The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River."

15 The four angels who were ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill one-third of humanity.

16 The soldiers on horses numbered 20,000 times 10,000. I heard how many there were.

17 In the vision that I had, the horses and their riders looked like this: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, pale blue, and yellow. The horses had heads like lions. Fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.

18 These three plagues--the fire, smoke, and sulfur which came out of their mouths--killed one-third of humanity.

19 The power of these horses is in their mouths and their tails. (Their tails have heads like snakes which they use to hurt people.)

20 The people who survived these plagues still did not turn to me and change the way they were thinking and acting. If they had, they would have stopped worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

21 They did not turn away from committing murder, practicing witchcraft, sinning sexually, or stealing.

Revelation 10

1 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 feet were like columns of fire.

2 He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.

3 Then 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 it down. I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don't write it down."

5 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. He said, "There will be no more delay.

7 In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed, as he had made this Good News known to his servants, the prophets."

8 The voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again. It said, "Take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

9 I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth."

10 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 was bitter in my stomach.

11 The seven thunders told me, "Again you must speak what God has revealed in front of many people, nations, languages, and kings."

Revelation 11

1 Then I was given a stick like a measuring stick. I was told, "Stand up and measure the temple of God and the altar. Count those who worship there.

2 But do not measure the temple courtyard. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

3 I will allow my two witnesses who wear sackcloth to speak what God has revealed. They will speak for 1,260 days."

4 These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing in the presence of the Lord of the earth.

5 If anyone wants to hurt them, fire comes out of the witnesses' mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed the same way.

6 These witnesses have authority to shut the sky in order to keep rain from falling during the time they speak what God has revealed. They have authority to turn water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague as often as they want.

7 When the witnesses finish their testimony, the beast which comes from the bottomless pit will fight them, conquer them, and kill them.

8 Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the important city where their Lord was crucified. The spiritual names of that city are Sodom and Egypt.

9 For 3½ days some members of the people, tribes, languages, and nations will look at the witnesses' dead bodies and will not allow anyone to bury them.

10 Those living on earth will gloat over the witnesses' death. They will celebrate and send gifts to each other because these two prophets had tormented those living on earth.

11 After 3½ days the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who watched them.

12 The witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven calling to them, "Come up here." 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. They gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second catastrophe is over. The third catastrophe will soon be here.

15 When the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will rule as king forever and ever."

16 Then the 24 leaders, who were sitting on their thrones in God's presence, immediately bowed, worshiped God,

17 and said, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun ruling as king.

18 The nations were angry, but your anger has come. The time has come for the dead to be judged: to reward your servants, the prophets, your holy people, and those who fear your name, no matter if they are important or unimportant, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

19 God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his promise was seen inside his temple. There was lightning, noise, thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Revelation 12

1 A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: There was a woman who was dressed in the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.

2 She was pregnant. She cried out from labor pains and the agony of giving birth.

3 Another sign appeared in the sky: a huge fiery red serpent with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads.

4 Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and threw them down to earth. The serpent stood in front of the woman who was going 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 all the nations with an iron scepter. Her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne.

6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where God had prepared a place for her so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

7 Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels had to fight a war with the serpent. The serpent and its angels fought.

8 But it was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

9 The huge serpent was thrown down. That ancient snake, named Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to earth. Its angels were thrown down with it.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, power, kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah have come. The one accusing our brothers and sisters, the one accusing them day and night in the presence of our God, has been thrown out.

11 They won the victory over him because of the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life so much that they refused to give it up.

12 Be glad for this reason, heavens and those who live in them. How horrible it is for the earth and the sea because the Devil has come down to them with fierce anger, knowing that he has little time left."

13 When the serpent saw that it had been thrown down to earth, it persecuted the woman who had given birth to the boy.

14 The woman was given the two wings of the large eagle in order to fly away from the snake to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time.

15 The snake's mouth poured out a river of water behind the woman in order to sweep her away.

16 The earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river which had poured out of the serpent's mouth.

17 The serpent became angry with the woman. So it went away to fight with her other children, the ones who keep God's commands and hold on to the testimony of Jesus.

18 The serpent stood on the sandy shore of the sea.