1   I was given a long cane, a kind of measuring-rod, and told: ‘Now go and measure the temple of God, the altar, and the number of the worshippers. 2   But have nothing to do with the outer court of the temple; do not measure that; for it has been given over to the Gentiles, and they will trample the Holy City underfoot for forty-two months. 3   And I have two witnesses, whom I will appoint to prophesy, dressed in sackcloth, all through those twelve hundred and sixty days.’ 4   These are the two olive-trees and the two lamps that stand in the presence of the Lord of the earth. 5   If anyone seeks to do them harm, fire pours from their mouths and consumes their enemies; and thus shall the man die who seeks to do them harm. 6   These two have the power to shut up the sky, so that no rain may fall during the time of their prophesying; and they have the power to turn water to blood and to strike the earth at will with every kind of plague. 7   But when they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war upon them and will defeat and kill them. 8   Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city, whose name in allegory is Sodom, or Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9   For three days and a half men from every people and tribe, of every language and nation, gaze upon their corpses and refuse them burial.

The powers of darkness conquered 10   All men on earth gloat over them, make merry, and exchange presents; for these two prophets were a torment to the whole earth. 11   But at the end of the three days and a half the breath of life from God came into them; and they stood up on their feet to the terror of all who saw it. 12   Then a loud voice was heard speaking to them from heaven, which said, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, in full view of their enemies. 13   At that same moment there was a violent earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake; the rest in terror did homage to the God of heaven.

14   The second woe has now passed. But the third is soon to come.

15   Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet; and voices were heard in heaven shouting:

  ‘The sovereignty of the world has passed to our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever!’
16   And the twenty-four elders, seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshipped God, 17   saying:

  ‘We give thee thanks, O Lord God, sovereign over all, who art and who wast, because thou hast taken thy great power into thy hands and entered upon thy reign. 18   The nations raged, but thy day of retribution has come. Now is the time for the dead to be judged; now is the time for recompense to thy servants the prophets, to thy dedicated people, and all who honour thy name, both great and small, the time to destroy those who destroy the earth.’

19   Then God's temple in heaven was laid open, and within the temple was seen the ark of his covenant. There came flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a storm of hail.

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