Revelation 11:1–14

The Two Witnesses

11And a measuring rod similar in appearance to a staff was given to me, saying, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it. ²And leave out the courtyard outside of the temple, and do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample the holy city for forty two months. ³And I will grant authority^* to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, dressed in sackcloth.” ⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵And if anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and consumes their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, in this way he must be killed. ⁶These have the authority to shut the sky, so that it does not rain^a during the days of their prophecy. And they have authority over the waters, to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they wish.

⁷And when they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war with them and will conquer them and will kill them. ⁸And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is called symbolically Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹And those from peoples and tribes and languages and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days, and they will not allow their dead bodies to be placed in a tomb. ¹⁰And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them, and will celebrate and will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.

¹¹And after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹²And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here,” and they went up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³And at that hour a great earthquake took place, and a tenth of the city collapsed, and seven thousand people^b were killed by the earthquake, and the rest became terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. ¹⁴The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly!