1. Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who are worshiping in it.
2. But exclude the outer court of the temple; do not measure it, for it has been handed over to the Gentiles, who will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
3. I will commission my two witnesses to prophesy for those twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”
4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.
6. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.
7. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.
8. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified.