Revelation 20
An angel ties Satan for 1 000 years
1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He had a key and a big chain in his hand and he could open the underworld with that key. 2The angel grabbed the dragon. The dragon is the old snake, the devil, Satan. The angel tied the dragon for 1 000 years 3and he threw the dragon into the underworld and closed it and locked it. The angel did this so that the dragon could not deceive the people of the nations for 1 000 years. But after 1 000 years, the dragon must become free and come out for a short time.
4Then I saw thrones and people sitting on the thrones. God said those people could judge. The people sitting on the thrones were the believers who had died. People had cut off their heads because they told other people about Jesus and the Word of God. They did not worship the beast and his idol and they did not have the mark of the beast on their foreheads or on their hands. God made them live again and they ruled with Christ for 1 000 years. 5This is the first raising of dead people. God did not make the other dead people live again. He will make them live again after 1 000 years. 6The people who take_part in the first raising of dead people are happy and they belong to God. The 2nd_death can do nothing to them. They will serve God and Christ like priests and they will rule with Christ for 1 000 years.
God defeats Satan
7When the 1 000 years are over, God will let Satan out of the jail where he was kept. 8Satan will go out and he will deceive the people of all nations and make them believe things that are not_true. He will bring the people of the nations, the Gog and Magog, the people who live at the far ends of the earth, together. There will be a lot of people, as many as the sand of the sea. Satan wants them to go to war_against God. 9Then they came to war. There were many soldiers that were coming as far as one could see. They came and surrounded the camp of God's people and the city of God, the city that God loves. God sent fire from heaven and the fire burnt his enemies and they all died.
10Then God threw the devil into the sea of fire and sulphur. He was the devil who deceived people and made them believe things that are not_true. The devil fell into the sea of fire and sulphur with the beast and the false_prophet. There they will burn in the fire every day and every night and they will have a lot of pain, forever and ever.
The day of judgement
11Then I saw a big white throne and I saw God sitting on the throne. The earth and the heaven became afraid of God and they fled. You could not see them anywhere. 12Then I saw the people who had died. All of them, old people and children, were standing before the throne. Someone opened the books of heaven and the book_of_life. God looked into the books and He saw what was written about each person, and what they had done, and then God judged the people. 13Yes, everyone became alive again: the people who had died in the sea and the people who were in the place where dead people go. God looked in the book and He read what they had done and He judged them all. 14Then God took death and the place where dead people go and He threw them into the sea of fire. This is the 2nd_death. 15If any person's name was not written in the book_of_life, then God threw him into the sea of fire.
English Bible for the Deaf © Bible Society of South Africa 2019. Used with permission. All rights reserved.