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 count those who worship there,
2 but leave out the court outside the temple; do not measure that, for it has been given up to the heathen, and for forty-two months they will trample on it.
3 And I will permit my two witnesses, clothed in sackcloth, to prophesy for 1,260 days."
4 They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 If anyone tries to hurt them fire comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies; if anyone tries to hurt them, he will certainly be killed in that way.
6 They have the power to shut up the sky, so that no rain will fall during the days when they are prophesying, and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to smite the earth with any plague whenever they please.
7 When they finish their testimony, the animal that comes up out of the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
8 and their bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt??here their Lord also was crucified.
9 For three days and a half, men of all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their bodies, and will not let them be buried.
10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate by sending presents to one another, for these two prophets were a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.
11 After three days and a half, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror seized those who saw them.
12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, before the eyes of their enemies.
13 At that moment there was a great earthquake, and one tenth of the city was destroyed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were filled with awe, and acknowledged the glory of the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past. See! The third woe is soon to come.
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and loud voices were heard in heaven, saying, "The sovereignty of the world has passed into the possession of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever."
16 Then the twenty-four elders who were seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying, "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and were, because you have assumed your great power and begun to reign.
18 The heathen were enraged, but now your anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your slaves the prophets and your people high and low who revere your name, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth!"