Revelation 20

1I, John, saw an angel coming down out of heaven. The angel had the key to the bottomless pit. The angel also held a large chain in his hand.

2The angel grabbed the dragon. The dragon is the old snake, the devil, Satan. The angel tied the dragon with the chain for 1000 years.

3The angel threw the dragon into the bottomless pit and closed it and locked it. The angel did this so that the dragon could not deceive the people of the nations for 1000 years. But after 1000 years, the dragon must become free and come out for a short time.

4Then I, John, 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 and they ruled with Christ for 1000 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.

6Great blessings belong to those who share in this first resurrection. The second death has no power over them. They will be priests for God and for Christ. They will rule with him for 1000 years.

7When the 1 000 years are over, God will let Satan out of the jail where he was kept.

8He will go out to trick the nations in all the earth, the nations known as Gog and Magog. Satan will gather the people for battle. There will be more people than anyone can count, like sand on the seashore.

9I, John, saw Satan’s army march across the earth and gather around the camp of God’s people and the city that God loves. But fire came down from heaven and destroyed Satan’s army.

10And the Devil, the one who tricked these people, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur with the beast and the false prophet. There they would be tortured day and night forever and ever.

11Then I saw a big white throne and I saw God sitting on the throne. Earth and sky ran away from him and disappeared

12And I saw those who had died, All of them, old people and children, there were standing before God. The books in heaven were opened. And another book was opened, the book of life. God read the things that each person had done. Then God judged them.

13The people who died in the sea and the people who died and went to hell stood before God. God then looked in the book and read what they had done, and God judged them.

14And Death and Hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.

15If any person’s name was not written in the book of life, then God threw him into the sea of fire.