The Two Witnesses 1 UDB Then an angel gave me a reed similar to a measuring stick. God said to me, "Go to the temple, measure it and the altar in it, and count the people who are worshiping there. BSB BSB: Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there.
2 UDB But do not measure the courtyard outside of the temple building because I have given it to the people who do not believe. As a result, they will trample the city of Jerusalem for forty-two months. BSB BSB: But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.
3 UDB I will send two witnesses to announce what I reveal to them for 1,260 days. They will show they are sad about the people's sin by wearing rough clothes made from goat's hair." BSB BSB: And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 UDB Those witnesses are the ones that are represented by the two olive trees and the two lampstands that are in the presence of the Lord who rules the earth. BSB BSB: These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 UDB If anyone tries to harm those witnesses, fire comes from the witnesses' mouths and destroys them. If people want to harm them, the two witnesses certainly kill them in the same way. BSB BSB: If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed.
6 UDB Those witnesses will have authority over the sky in order to keep rain from falling during the time that they are announcing what God reveals to them. They also will have authority to cause water everywhere to become blood; they will also have authority to send down to the earth all kinds of plagues. They will do this as often as they wish. BSB BSB: These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.
The Witnesses Killed and Raised 7 UDB When they have finished announcing to people the message from God, the beast that comes up from the shaft that went down but had no ending—he will fight against them. He will defeat them and kill them. BSB BSB: When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them.
8 UDB The dead bodies of the two witnesses will lie in the street of the great city where their Lord was crucified, the city that is symbolically called Sodom or Egypt because its people are very evil, like the people who lived in Sodom and Egypt. BSB BSB: Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified.
9 UDB Individuals of many peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days. But they will not allow anyone to bury their bodies. BSB BSB: For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb.
10 UDB When the people who live on the earth see that the witnesses are dead, they will rejoice and celebrate. They will send gifts to each other because these two prophets had sent plagues that tormented them. BSB BSB: And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
11 UDB But after three and a half days, God will cause them to breathe again and live. They will stand up, and the people who see them will be terrified. BSB BSB: But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them.
12 UDB The two witnesses will hear a loud voice from heaven saying to them: "Come up here!" Then they will go up into heaven in a cloud. Their enemies will watch them go up. BSB BSB: And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.
13 UDB At that same time there will be a great earthquake, as a result of which a tenth of the buildings in the city will collapse, and seven thousand people will die. The rest of the people will be afraid and will acknowledge that the God who rules in heaven is awesome. BSB BSB: And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 UDB That will be the second terrible event. Be aware that the third terrible event will happen soon afterwards. BSB BSB: The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.
The Seventh Trumpet 15 UDB Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. Voices in heaven shouted loudly, "Our Lord and the Christ whom he has appointed will now govern all the people in the world, and Christ will rule forever!" BSB BSB: Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”
16 UDB The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones in God's presence, bowed down their faces to the ground and worshiped him. BSB BSB: And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 UDB They said: "Lord God, you are the one who rules over everything! You are the one who exists now! You are the one who has always existed! We thank you that you have defeated with your power everyone who has rebelled against you, and you now rule over all the people in the world. BSB BSB: saying: “We give thanks to You, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
18 UDB The unbelieving people of the nations were angrily raging at you. As a result you have become very angry with them. You have decided that this is the right time for you to judge all those who have died. The time has come for you to reward all your servants who were the prophets and the others who believe in you and all those who honor you, and this includes those who are small and those who are great. It is time for you to destroy the people who destroy the earth." BSB BSB: The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your name, both small and great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 UDB Then God opened his temple in heaven, and I saw in it the sacred chest. Lightning was flashing; it was thundering and rumbling; the earth shook, and large hailstones fell from the sky. BSB BSB: Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.
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