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, but do not measure the court outside the temple;
leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will
trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant
authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260
days, clothed in sackcloth.”

  These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand
before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire
pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would
harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the
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 strike the earth with every kind of plague, as
often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony,
the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them
and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in
the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and
Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days
some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will
gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a
tomb, 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. 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.
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up
here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies
watched them. 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.

  The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

  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 forever
and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones
before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

    “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
        who is and who was,
    for you have taken your great power
        and begun to reign.
    The nations raged,
        but your wrath came,
        and the time for the dead to be judged,
    and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
        and those who fear your name,
        both small and great,
    and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”


      Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his
covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of
lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy
hail.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.