Revelation 20

The thousand years

¹And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.^•²He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,^•³and cast him into the abyss, and shut and sealed it over him, so that he would no longer deceive the nations, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a little while.^•

⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them; and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the Testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.^•⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.^•⁶Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.^•

The defeat of Satan

⁷When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,^•⁸and will go out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for the war; their number is like the sand of the sea.^•⁹They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.^•¹⁰The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet also are; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.^•

The judgment before the great white throne

¹¹And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.^•¹²And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by the things that were written in the books, according to their works.^•¹³The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one according to their works.^•¹⁴Then death and the grave were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.^•¹⁵If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.^•

Notes

20:1 “The key of the abyss”: cf. 1:18; 9:1. “Abyss”: Gr. ἄβυσσος, the same word as in the LXX of Gen 1:2. Cf. Jer 4:23–26. “Chain”: Gr. ἅλυσις. ↩
20:2 “Seized”: Gr. ἐκράτησεν. “The ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan”: cf. 12:9; Gen 3:1. “A thousand years”: Gr. χίλια ἔτη (cf. 20:3–7). “Bound him”: cf. Isa 24:21–22; Matt 12:29. Variant: the Byzantine text adds “who deceives the whole world”. ↩
20:3 “Shut and sealed it over him”: Gr. ἔκλεισεν καὶ ἐσφράγισεν ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, that is, the abyss (cf. Dan 6:17 (Heb. 6:18); Matt 27:66); the Textus Receptus reads “shut him”. “Deceive”: Gr. πλανάω (cf. 12:9; 20:8, 10). “Were completed”: Gr. τελεσθῇ (cf. 17:17; 20:5, 7). “A little while”: Gr. μικρὸν χρόνον (cf. 6:11). ↩
20:4 “Thrones… judgment”: Gr. κρίμα (cf. Dan 7:9, 22, 26; Matt 19:28; 1 Cor 6:2–3). “And I saw the souls”: “I saw” is implied in the Greek. “The souls”: Gr. ψυχαί (cf. 6:9). “Beheaded”: Gr. πεπελεκισμένων, lit. “beheaded with an axe”. “The Testimony of Jesus… the Word of God”: cf. 1:2, 9; 6:9; 12:17. “Mark”: cf. 13:16–17; 14:9. “Came to life”: Gr. ἔζησαν, lit. “lived”, an ingressive aorist, “began to live” (cf. 2:8; 13:14; Ezek 37:10). “Christ”: Gr. τοῦ χριστοῦ, with the article, “the Christ”; the Textus Receptus omits the article. ↩
20:5 “The rest of the dead”: Gr. οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν νεκρῶν. “Did not come to life”: lit. “did not live” (cf. 20:4); the Textus Receptus reads ἀνέζησαν. Variant: Codex Sinaiticus and part of the Byzantine tradition omit the first sentence of the verse. “The first resurrection”: cf. John 5:28–29; 1 Thess 4:16; Luke 14:14. ↩
20:6 “Blessed”: cf. 1:3; 14:13; 19:9. “The second death”: cf. 2:11; 20:14; 21:8. “Priests of God and of Christ”: cf. 1:6; 5:10; Ex 19:6. “Will reign with Him for a thousand years”: cf. 5:10; 22:5. ↩
20:7 “Prison”: Gr. φυλακή (cf. 2:10; 18:2). ↩
20:8 “The four corners of the earth”: cf. 7:1. “Gog and Magog”: cf. Ezek 38–39. “For the war”: Gr. τὸν πόλεμον (cf. 16:14; 19:19); the Textus Receptus omits the article. “Like the sand of the sea”: cf. Gen 22:17; Josh 11:4. ↩
20:9 “The breadth of the earth”: Gr. τὸ πλάτος τῆς γῆς (cf. Hab 1:6). “Over the breadth of the earth”: lit. “upon the breadth of the earth”. “Camp”: Gr. παρεμβολή. “The beloved city”: cf. Ps 87:2 [LXX 86:2]; Jer 11:15. “Fire came down from heaven”: cf. 2 Kgs 1:10–12; Ezek 38:22; 39:6; the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus add “from God”. ↩
20:10 “The lake of fire and sulfur”: cf. 19:20; 21:8. “Will be tormented”: Gr. βασανίζω (cf. 14:10–11). “Forever and ever”: cf. 14:11; Isa 34:9–10; Jude 7. ↩
20:11 “Great white throne”: cf. Dan 7:9–10. “From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away”: cf. 6:14; 16:20; 21:1; Ps 102:25–26 (Heb. 102:26–27) [LXX 101:26–27]; 2 Pet 3:10. ↩
20:12 “The great and the small”: cf. 11:18; 19:5. “Books were opened”: cf. Dan 7:10; 12:1; Mal 3:16. “Which is the book of life”: lit. “which is of life” (cf. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). “According to their works”: cf. 2:23; 22:12; Ps 62:12 (Heb. 62:13) [LXX 61:13]; Rom 2:6. Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “before God” instead of “before the throne”, and “small and great”. ↩
20:13 “Death and the grave”: Gr. ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ ᾅδης (cf. 1:18; 6:8). “Each one”: Gr. ἕκαστος. ↩
20:14 “The second death, the lake of fire”: cf. 2:11; 20:6; 21:8; Isa 25:8; 1 Cor 15:26; the Textus Receptus omits “the lake of fire”. ↩
20:15 “Book of life”: Gr. ἡ βίβλος τῆς ζωῆς (cf. 3:5; 13:8; Dan 12:1). ↩