The Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff [and] was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and [ count the number ] of worshipers [there]. 2 [But] exclude the courtyard outside the temple. {Do} not measure it, because it has been given [over] to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

4 These [witnesses] are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.[fn] 5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. 6 These [witnesses] have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.