1 I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He had the key to the deep dark pit, and he was carrying a large chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon. That dragon is the ancient serpent, the devil, that is, Satan. The angel bound him with the chain. That chain could not be loosed {No one could loose that chain} for 1,000 years. 3 The angel threw him into the deep dark pit. He shut the door of the pit, locked it, and sealed it to prevent anyone from opening it. He did that in order that Satan might no longer deceive the people of the nations [MTY], until those 1,000 years are ended. After that time, Satan must be released {God/God’s angel must release Satan} for a short time in order that he can do what God has planned.

4 I saw thrones on which people were sitting. They were given {God gave those people} authority to judge other people. I also saw the souls of people whose heads had been {whose heads others had} cut off because of their telling people about Jesus and declaring God’s message. They were people who refused to worship the beast or its image, and who did not allow the beast’s agents to put the beast’s mark on them, either on their foreheads or on their hands. They became alive again, and they ruled with Christ during those 1,000 years. 5 They were the ones who lived again the first time that God caused dead people to live again. The rest of the believers who had died did not live again until after those 1,000 years. 6 ◄God will be pleased with/How happy will be► those who live again that first time. God will consider them holy. They will not die [PRS] a second time. Instead, they will be priests who serve God and Christ, and they will rule with Christ during those 1,000 years.

7 When the 1,000 years are ended, Satan will be released {God’s angel will release Satan} from the deep pit in which he was imprisoned. 8 He will go out to deceive rebellious people in nations [IDM] all over the earth. These are the nations that the prophet Ezekiel called Gog and Magog. Satan will gather them to fight against God’s people. There will be so many of them fighting against God’s people that no one will be able to count them [SIM], just like no one can count the grains of sand on the ocean shore. 9 They will march over the whole earth and surround the camp of God’s people in Jerusalem, the city that God loves. Then God will send fire down from heaven, and it will burn them up. 10 The devil, who had deceived those people, will be thrown {God’s angel will throw the devil, who had deceived those people} into the lake of burning sulfur. This is the same lake into which both the beast and the false prophet had been thrown {he had thrown both the beast and the false prophet}. As a result, they will continually suffer severely forever.

11 Then I saw a huge white throne on which God was sitting. He was so awesome that the earth and the sky disappeared from his presence completely; they were completely destroyed {God completely destroyed them}. 12 I saw that the people who had died but now lived again were standing in front of the throne. They included people of every social status! The books in which God records what people do were opened {God/God’s angel opened the books in which God records what people do}. Another book was opened {He opened another book}, which is called the Book of Life, in which God has written the names of people who have eternal life. God judged the people who had died and now lived again according to what they had done, just like he had recorded it in the books. 13 The people whose bodies were buried in the sea became alive again in order to stand before God’s throne. Everyone who had been buried on the land (OR, Every person who was waiting in the place where dead people stay) became alive again, in order to stand before the throne. God judged each one of them according to what each one had done. 14 All the unbelievers [PRS, MTY] —those who had been in the place where they waited after they died— were thrown into the burning lake. The burning lake is the place in which people die the second time. 15 The people whose names [MTY] are not in the book, the one where God has written the names of people who have eternal life, were also thrown {◄God/God’s angel► threw them also} into the lake of fire.