Revelation 20 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 95, near the end of the emperor Domitian's reign
Location
Written from Patmos to churches in the Roman province of Asia
Audience
Seven Christian congregations in western Asia Minor, many of whom had seen believers executed
Situation
An angel chains the dragon in a bottomless pit for a thousand years while those who were beheaded for their testimony reign with Christ. After the thousand years the dragon is released, is finally defeated, and the dead are judged before a great white throne.
Key Background
Jewish writings of this era often pictured a limited period of restored rule on earth before a final judgment and a renewed creation, so a thousand-year reign fits a pattern John's readers already knew. Books recording deeds and a separate register of the living were standard imagery drawn from ancient court and city archives, where a citizen's name on a roll meant belonging. Gog and Magog come from Ezekiel's vision of a distant northern enemy, and by the first century the pair had become a stock name for the last hostile coalition rather than a specific nation.
Then I saw an coming down out of heaven, holding the key to the and a massive chain in his hand.
He seized the — that who is the devil and — and bound him for a
He threw him into the bottomless pit, locked it, and it over him so that he could no longer the until the thousand years were over. After that, he has to be released for a short time.
Then I saw and those seated on them were given the authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been because of their about Jesus and because of the word of God — those who had not worshiped the or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. They came to life and ruled with The for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were over. This is the first
is for anyone who shares in this first resurrection, and they are The has no power over them. They will be of God and of The One, and they will rule with him for the thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison.
He will go out to deceive the nations at the of the — Gog and — and gather them for battle. Their number will be like the on the
They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the he But down from and consumed them.
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the of and where the beast and the had already been thrown. They will be day and night and
Then I saw a and the one seated on it. and from and there was no place left for them.
And I saw the dead — the and the — standing before the throne. Books were opened, and then another was opened: the of The dead were on what they had as recorded in the books.
The sea gave up its dead, and and the gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged based on what they had done.
Then and the were the of This of is the
If anyone's name was not found written in the of they were thrown into the lake of fire.