Revelation 11

Then I was given a measuring stick like a walking staff. The angel stood there and said, "Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the people who worship there."

1And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

NoteA reed was the hollow cane stalk that surveyors cut for a measuring rod; the standard one ran roughly ten feet. The King James "rod" here means a walking staff, so the picture is of a measuring cane about as long as a man's staff. Measuring a sanctuary this way comes from Ezekiel 40 to 42, where a figure with a measuring reed paces out a temple. The word translated "temple" is not the whole walled complex but the sanctuary building itself, which is why the outer courtyard can be left out of the measuring in the next verse.

2"But leave out the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been handed over to the nations. They will trample the holy city under their feet for forty-two months."

2But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Note"Gentiles" is the King James word for the nations, meaning everyone who is not Jewish. In the Jerusalem temple the outer courtyard was the one area non-Jews were permitted to enter; inner courts were barred to them on pain of death. "The holy city" is Jerusalem. Forty-two months is three and a half years, the same span given as 1,260 days in the next verse and as "a time, and times, and half a time" in Daniel 7:25; it was the length of time the Jerusalem temple stood desecrated under Antiochus IV in the 160s BC, and it became a standing figure for a fixed, limited period of oppression.

3"And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will speak my message for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth."

3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Note"Threescore" is sixty, so a thousand two hundred and threescore is 1,260 days: three and a half years of thirty-day months, matching the forty-two months of verse 2. Two is the number of witnesses the law required to establish any charge as true (Deuteronomy 19:15), so a pair of witnesses is a legally sufficient testimony. Sackcloth was coarse, dark cloth woven from goat hair, worn next to the skin as the recognized dress of mourning and of prophets calling for repentance.

4These two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in front of the God of the earth.

4These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

NoteThe image comes from Zechariah 4, where the prophet sees a gold lampstand flanked by two olive trees that feed oil straight into it, and the two trees are identified as "the two anointed ones" who stand before the Lord of the whole earth. A King James "candlestick" is not a holder for a wax candle but a lampstand, a stand carrying small lamps that burn olive oil.

5If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and burns up their enemies. Anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this way.

5And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

NoteIn 1611 English "will" often carried its older sense of "wants to" or "intends to" rather than marking simple future tense, so "if any man will hurt them" means if anyone wants to harm them.

6These witnesses have the power to shut up the sky so that no rain falls during the days when they speak God's message. They also have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and power to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they want.

6These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Note"Shut heaven" means shut up the sky so that it holds back rain. The two powers described here are the signature acts of Israel's two most famous prophets: Elijah shut off the rain for three and a half years (1 Kings 17 to 18), and Moses turned the Nile to blood and struck Egypt with plagues (Exodus 7 to 12). "All plagues" means every kind of plague, not the entire set of them.

7When they have finished giving their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will make war against them. It will defeat them and kill them.

7And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Note"The bottomless pit" translates the Greek word abyss, the unfathomable deep pictured as a shaft or prison where hostile spirits are confined. "The beast" is introduced here without explanation and described at length later; the word means a wild animal, not a domestic one. "Overcome them" means defeat or overpower them.

8Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city. As a figure of speech, that city is called Sodom and Egypt. It is also the place where their Lord was nailed to a cross.

8And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Note"Spiritually" here does not mean devoutly; it is the King James rendering of a word meaning figuratively or symbolically, the opposite of literally. Sodom and Egypt are used as bywords rather than as places: Sodom was the city destroyed for its wickedness in Genesis 19, and Egypt was the country that enslaved Israel. Prophets had already applied the name Sodom to Jerusalem as an insult (Isaiah 1:10).

9For three and a half days, people from every group, tribe, language, and nation will look at their dead bodies. They will not allow the bodies to be placed in a grave.

9And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Note"Kindreds and tongues" means tribes and languages. "Shall not suffer" means shall not permit or allow. Leaving a corpse exposed instead of burying it was one of the gravest humiliations the ancient world knew, a punishment aimed at the dead person's honor as much as at the body, and burial within a day was expected as a basic duty even toward enemies.

10The people who live on the earth will be glad over the two witnesses. They will celebrate and send gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

10And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

NoteSending portions of food and gifts to one another was the standard way of marking a public festival in Jewish practice (Nehemiah 8:10, Esther 9:19 and 22), so the detail pictures the world keeping a holiday over the deaths. "Make merry" means celebrate. "Them that dwell upon the earth" is a fixed phrase in this book for the settled population of the world that is hostile to God, not simply for human beings in general.

11But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood up on their feet. Great fear fell on everyone who saw them.

11And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

NoteThe Greek word behind "Spirit" also means breath or wind, and the whole line echoes Ezekiel 37, where breath from God enters a valley of dry bones and they stand on their feet as a living army. "Great fear fell upon" is a Hebrew way of saying terror seized them.

12Then the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them.

12And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Note"Come up hither" means come up here. Going up in a cloud is the language used of Elijah's departure and of the ascension in Acts 1:9, where a cloud conceals the one taken up. "Beheld" means watched.

13At that same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell down. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake. The rest were terrified, and they gave glory to the God of heaven.

13And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Note"The same hour" means at that very moment rather than within a sixty minute span. "The remnant" here simply means the rest, those left over, with no special religious sense. "Affrighted" means terrified. To "give glory to" God was a set phrase for openly acknowledging him, used both of praise and, in legal settings, of a guilty party admitting the truth (Joshua 7:19); the text does not settle which is meant.

14The second great trouble is now past. Look, the third great trouble is coming soon.

14The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

NoteA "woe" is a cry of disaster, the shout an ancient mourner or prophet raised over a doomed city. Three of them were announced earlier (Revelation 8:13) as attached to the last three trumpet blasts, so the first and second woes are the events of chapters 9 to 11 and the third arrives with the seventh trumpet in the next verse.

15Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and loud voices in heaven said, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever."

15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

NoteThe oldest manuscripts read "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord," in the singular; the King James follows later copies that have the plural "kingdoms." "Is become" means has become. "Christ" is not a second name but the Greek for Anointed One, the equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah, so "his Christ" means the king he has anointed.

16And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones in front of God, fell facedown on the ground and worshiped God.

16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

Note"Four and twenty" is twenty-four, the older way of saying the number. "Seats" is the King James word for thrones; the same Greek word is translated "throne" elsewhere in the book. These elders were introduced in Revelation 4:4. Falling on the face was the ordinary posture of homage before a king in the ancient Near East, not simply a gesture of prayer.

17They said, "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, because you have taken your great power and have begun to rule as king."

17Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

Note"Which art, and wast" means who is and who was. Earlier in this book the formula runs "which is, and which was, and which is to come" (Revelation 1:4 and 1:8); many early manuscripts lack the third clause here, and the King James includes it from later copies. The Greek verb behind "hast reigned" points to the moment a reign is taken up rather than to a long past rule, which is why it can be read as "have begun to reign."

18"The nations were angry, and now your anger has come. The time has come for the dead to be judged. It is time to reward your servants the prophets, and your holy people, and all who fear your name, both unimportant and important. It is also time to destroy those who destroy the earth."

18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

NoteThere is a play on words in the Greek that English cannot easily carry: the nations were enraged and God's rage has come, the same root twice. "The saints" translates a word meaning the holy ones, people set apart for God; it does not refer to a special class of exceptionally holy individuals. "Them that fear thy name" means those who hold him in awe, and "small and great" is a stock phrase for everyone regardless of rank or importance.

19Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen inside his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumbling voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a heavy hailstorm.

19And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Note"Testament" is the King James word for covenant, a binding agreement. The ark of the covenant was the gold covered wooden chest holding the stone tablets of the law; it stood in the innermost room of the sanctuary behind a curtain, where only the high priest went, and only once a year. It disappeared when Babylon destroyed the temple around 587 BC and was never in the second temple, so a curtain drawn back on the ark itself would have been an unimaginable sight to a first century reader. The "voices" listed among the lightnings and thunderings render a word for loud noises or rumblings, not speech. This cluster of storm signs is the standard biblical description of God appearing, as at Sinai in Exodus 19:16.