626. CHAPTER 11.

1. AND there was given to me a reed like a staff; and the angel stood near, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore therein.

2. And the court which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not, because it is given to the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

3. And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.

4. These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands, which stand before the God of the earth.

5. And if any one shall desire to hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies; and if any one shall desire to hurt them, he must thus be killed.

6. These have power to shut heaven, that the rain rain not in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire.

7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast coming out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

8. And their bodies [are] upon the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9. And they of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations shall see their bodies three days and a half, and they shall not suffer their bodies to be put in sepulchres.

10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and be glad, and shall send gifts one to another, because those two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth.

11. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them.

12. And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither; and they ascended into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

13. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and there were slain in the earthquake names of men seven thousand; and the rest became afraid, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

15. And the seventh angel sounded, and there followed great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord's and his Christ's, and he shall reign unto the ages of the ages.

16. And the four and twenty elders, who sit before God upon their thrones, fell upon their faces, and adored God,

17. Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and who wast, and who art to come, because thou hast taken thy great power and entered upon the kingdom.

18. And the nations were angered, and thine anger is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those that fear thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy those that destroy the earth.

19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple; and there were lightnings and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.

EXPLANATION.

Verses 1, 2. And there was given to me a reed like a staff; and the angel stood near, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore therein. And the court, which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not, because it is given to the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

"And there was given to me a reed like a staff," signifies the mode of visitation, that is, of exploring the quality of the church as to truth and as to good; "and the angel stood near, saying," signifies the will of the Lord and command; "Rise, measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore therein," signifies to explore the quality of the church, as to its reception of Divine Truth and Divine Good, and thence as to the worship of the Lord. "And the court which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not," signifies that the external of the Word, and thence of the church and worship, is not to be explored; "because it is given to the nations," signifies because it is perverted by evils of life and falsities of doctrine; "and the holy city shall they tread under foot," signifies that they will destroy all the doctrine of truth and good from the Word; "forty and two months," signifies even to the end of the old church and the beginning of the new.