1Then a measuring reed like a staff was given to me. I was told,2524 “Arise, and measure God’s sanctuary, and the altar, and those who express adoration2525 in it. 2Leave out the court which is outside the sanctuary; do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations.2526 They will trample over the holy city2527 for forty-two months. 3I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4They are the two olive trees2528 and the two lampstands who stand before the Lord2529 of the earth. 5If anyone desires to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies. Whoever desires to harm them will be killed in this way. 6They have the power to shut up the sky, so that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They also have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.2530 7When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes out of the abyss will attack them, overcome them, and kill them. 8Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city,2531 which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, and where their2532 Lord was crucified. 9For three and a half days, people from tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies, and they will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10The people of the world will rejoice over them and celebrate the event, exchanging gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.
11After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood up on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. 12Then I2533 heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up into heaven in the cloud as their enemies were watching. 13In that day, a great earthquake occurred and one tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people died in the earthquake, and the rest, terrified, gave glory to the God of heaven. 14The second disaster is past. Behold, the third one comes quickly.
The seventh angel
15The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom2534 of our Lord and of his Christ. He will reign unto the ages of ages!”
16Then the twenty-four presbyters who sit on their thrones before the throne of2535 God fell on their faces. They expressed adoration to2536 God and 17said, “We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is2537 and who was, and who is coming2538; because you have assumed your great power and begun to reign. 18The nations raged, and your wrath came, as did the time for the nations2539 to be judged. The time has come to give their reward to your bondservants the prophets, and also to the saints and to those who fear your Name, to the small and the great. And the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth!”
Vision of the Ark—The woman clothed with the sun
19Then God’s sanctuary in heaven was opened, and the Ark2540 of the Lord’s covenant2541 was seen in his sanctuary! Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.2542
- TR reads “An angel stood, saying”
- proskuneo can also be translated “worship (in the broad sense),” “venerate,” “fall down in reverence,” “do obeisance” (see NT introduction regarding proskuneo)
- Or “Gentiles”
- Compare Luke 21:24
- Compare Zachariah 4
- TR reads “God”
- Like Moses and Aaron in Egypt (see also verse 8)
- Clearly a reference to Jerusalem (compare 17:18)
- TR reads “our”
- CT and TR read “they” intead of “I”
- TR reads “The kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdoms”
- Other manuscripts omit “the throne of”
- See previous footnote(s)
- Greek o wn
- CT and MT omit “and who is coming” (included in PT and TR)
- Other manuscripts read “dead” instead of “nations”
- See EOB volume 1 (Introduction) for a discussion of the typology of the Ark and Mary the Theotokos. Note that the chapter break is arbitrary and may obscure the continuity between 11:19 and 12:1.
- CT and TR read “the Ark of his covenant”
- Compare 2 Maccabees 2:4-8
Text: The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible, New Testament (EOB). Used with permission.
