King James Version · Under Rome
Revelation 20
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And I saw come down from , having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, , which is , and , and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw , and they sat upon them, and was given unto them: and I saw the of them that were beheaded for the of , and for the word of , and which had not , neither his , neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first . and is he that hath part in the first : on such the second hath no , but they shall be priests of and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, and , to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of about, and the beloved city: and came down from out of , and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of and brimstone, where and the false are, and shall be tormented day and night . And I saw a great white , and him that sat on it, from whose the earth and the fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw , small and great, stand before ; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the : and were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up which were in it; and and hell up which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And and hell were cast into the lake of . This is the second . And whosoever was not found written in the was cast into the lake of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
Christians read this chapter differently
- What is the thousand years of Revelation 20? · Revelation 20:1-6
- What happens to those who are finally lost? · Revelation 20:11-15
Every view at its strongest, with who holds it and what it has to answer for.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.