[1] Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told: "Rise
and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
[2] but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it
is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for
forty-two months. [3] And I will grant my two witnesses power to prophesy
for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." [4]
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the
Lord of the earth. [5] And if any one would harm them, fire pours out from
their mouth and consumes their foes; if any one would harm them, thus he is
doomed to be killed. [6] They have power to shut the sky, that no rain may
fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the
waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague,
as often as they desire. [7] And when they have finished their testimony,
the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and
conquer them and kill them, [8] and their dead bodies will lie in the
street of the great city which is allegorically called Sodom and Egypt,
where their Lord was crucified. [9] For three days and a half men from the
peoples and tribes and tongues and nations gaze at their dead bodies and
refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, [10] and those who dwell on the
earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because
these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. [11]
But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them,
and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
[12] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up
hither!" And in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven in a cloud.
[13] And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city
fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest
were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. [14] The second woe has
passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. [15] Then the seventh angel
blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The
kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign for ever and ever." [16] And the twenty-four elders who
sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, [17]
saying, "We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast,
that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign. [18] The nations
raged, but thy wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for
rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear thy
name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the
earth." [19] Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his
covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning,
voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
