Revelation 11:1-11

¹I was given a measuring rod and told, “Get up and measure the Temple of God, and the altar, and count those who are worshiping there.

²Don't measure the court outside the Temple, leave that, because it has been handed over to the nations. They will trample down the holy city for forty-two months.

³I will give my two witnesses power, and they will prophesy 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.”

⁴They are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks that stand in front of the Lord of the earth.

⁵If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and burns up their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them will be killed.

⁶These two witnesses have the power to close the sky so that it will not rain during the time of their prophecy. They also have the power to turn the waters into blood, and to strike the earth with all kinds of plagues, as often as they want.

⁷When they finish their testimony, the beast coming from the Abyss will attack them, defeat them, and kill them.

⁸Their dead bodies will lie on the open street of the great city, called Sodom and Egypt in spiritual symbolism—also the place where their Lord was crucified.

⁹For three and a half days those from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will look at their dead bodies, and will not allow their corpses to be buried.

¹⁰The inhabitants of the earth are delighted they are dead, and celebrate, sending gifts to each other, because these two prophets had been a torment to them.

¹¹But three and half days later God's life-giving breath entered them and they stood on their feet. Those who saw this were absolutely terrified.