The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (291 page)

  
  and those who fear your name, both small and great,

  
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."

19
 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the
ark of his covenant
was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

The Woman and the Dragon

12
  
*
 
And a great sign
appeared in heaven,
a woman
clothed with the sun, with
the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
²
she was with child and she cried out in her
pangs of birth
, in anguish for delivery.
³
And another sign appeared in heaven; behold, a great
red dragon
, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads.
⁴
His tail swept down
a third of the stars
of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth;
⁵
she brought forth a
male child
, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
⁶
and the woman
fled into the wilderness
, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Michael Defeats the Dragon

7
 Now war arose in heaven,
Michael
and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
⁸
but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
⁹
And the great dragon was thrown down,
that ancient serpent
, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
¹⁰
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "
Now the salvation
and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
¹¹
And they have
conquered him
by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
¹²
Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

The Dragon Makes War against the Woman's Offspring

13
 And when the dragon saw that
he had been thrown down
to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child.
¹⁴
But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
 
*
¹⁵
The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood.
¹⁶
But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth.
¹⁷
Then the dragon was angry with
the woman
,
 
*
and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood
^e
on the sand of the sea.

The Beast from the Sea

13
  
And
I saw
a beast
 
*
rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads.
²
And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.
³
One of its heads
seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder.
⁴
Men worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?"

5
 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for
forty-two months
;
⁶
it opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
⁷
Also it was allowed to make
war on the saints
and to conquer them.
^f
And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation,
⁸
and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in
the book of life
of the Lamb that was slain.
⁹
If any one has an ear, let him hear:

¹⁰
If any one
is to be taken captive,

  
  to captivity he goes;

  
if any one slays with the sword,

  
  with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Beast from the Earth

11
 Then I saw
another beast
 
*
which rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
¹²
It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.
¹³
It works
great signs
, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men;
¹⁴
and by the signs which it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, bidding them make
an image
for the beast which was wounded by the sword and yet lived;
¹⁵
and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak, and to cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
¹⁶
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,
¹⁷
so that no one can buy or sell unless he has
the mark
, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
¹⁸
This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is
six hundred and sixty-six
.
^g
*

The Lamb and the 144,000

14
  
Then I looked, and behold, on
Mount Zion
stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
²
And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their
harps
,
³
and they sing
a new song
before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.
⁴
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for
they are chaste
;
^h
*
it is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; these have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb,
⁵
and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless.

The Messages of the Three Angels

6
 Then I saw
another angel flying in midheaven
, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
⁷
and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water."

8
 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is
Babylon
 
*
the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of her impure passion."

9
 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If any one worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
¹⁰
he also shall drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the
cup of his anger
, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
¹¹
And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and
they have no rest
, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."

12
 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

13
 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this:
Blessed are the dead
who from now on die in the Lord." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"

Reaping the Earth's Harvest

14
 
Then I looked
, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a
son of man
, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
¹⁵
And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."
¹⁶
So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17
 And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
¹⁸
Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe."
¹⁹
So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great
wine press
of the wrath of God;
²⁰
and the wine press was trodden outside
the city
, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse's bridle, for one thousand six hundred stadia.
ⁱ

The Angels with the Seven Last Plagues

15
  
Then I saw
another sign
in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.

2
 
And I saw
what appeared to be a
sea of glass
mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.
³
And they sing the song of Moses,
 
*
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

  
"Great and wonderful are your deeds,

  
O Lord God the Almighty!

  
Just and true are your ways
,

  
O King of the ages!
^j