The Revelation of St. John the Divine

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 20 -

And I saw an Angel, descending from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the abyss and a great chain.

And he apprehended the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand years.(a)

And he cast him into the abyss, and he closed and sealed it, so that he would no longer seduce the nations, until the thousand years are completed. And after these things, he must be released for a brief time.

And I saw thrones. And they sat upon them. And judgment was given to them. And the souls of those beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God, and who did not adore the beast, nor his image, nor accept his character on their foreheads or on their hands: they lived and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The rest of the dead did not live, until the thousand years are completed. This is the First Resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he who takes part in the First Resurrection. Over these the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him for a thousand years.

Satan Cast into the Lake of Fire

And when the thousand years will have been completed, Satan shall be released from his prison, and he will go out and seduce the nations which are upon the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog. And he will gather them together for battle, those whose number is like the sand of the sea.

And they climbed across the breadth of the earth, and they encompassed the camp of the Saints and the Beloved City.

And fire from God descended from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and sulphur,

where both the beast and the false prophetess shall be tortured, day and night, forever and ever.

Judgment before the Great White Throne

And I saw a great white throne, and One sitting upon it, from whose sight earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in view of the throne. And books were opened. And another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by those things that had been written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. And death and Hell gave up their dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.(b)

And Hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death.

And whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the pool of fire.

Footnotes

(a)20:2 Bound him, etc:The power of Satan has been very much limited by the passion of Christ: for a thousand years; that is, for the whole time of the New Testament; but especially from the time of the destruction of Babylon or pagan Rome, till the new efforts of Gog and Magog against the church, towards the end of the world. During which time the souls of the martyrs and saints live and reign with Christ in heaven, in the first resurrection, which is that of the soul to the life of glory; as the second resurrection will be that of the body, at the day of the general judgment.(Challoner)

(b)20:13 The Latin text has the equivalent of ‘their works,’ but this phrasing, while clear in Latin, does not work in English.(Conte)

I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

He seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth,(a) and bound him for a thousand years,

and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.

I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.

Satan Cast into the Lake of Fire

And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison

and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

They went up over the width of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God and devoured them.

The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Judgment before the Great White Throne

I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades(b) gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.

Death and Hades(c) were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

Footnotes

(a)20:2 TR and NU omit “who deceives the whole inhabited earth”.

(b)20:13 or, Hell