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Read the Bible
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Revelation 20:2
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- CondensedParallel Translations
The angel grabbed the dragon, that old snake, also known as the devil or Satan. The angel tied the dragon with the chain for 1000 years.
And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
And he toke the drago that olde serpet which is the devyll and Satanas and he bounde him a thousand yeares:
He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Hasatan, and bound him for one thousand years,
And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
The angel grabbed the dragon, that old snake who is the devil and Satan, and tied him up for a thousand years.
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for one thousand years,
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
He laid hold of the Dragon--the ancient serpent--who is the Devil and the Adversary, and bound him for a thousand years, and hurled him into the bottomless pit.
And he cauyte the dragoun, the elde serpent, that is the deuel and Sathanas; and he boonde hym bi a thousynde yeeris.
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
He chained the dragon for a thousand years. It is that old snake, who is also known as the devil and Satan.
And he overpowered and laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent [of primeval times], who is the devil and Satan, and bound him [securely] for a thousand years (a millennium);
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
And he took the dragon, the old snake, which is the Evil One and Satan, and put chains on him for a thousand years,
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan [the Adversary], and chained him up for a thousand years.
And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent who is [the] devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
He captured the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and tied him up for a thousand years.2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:9;">[xr]
And he laid hold of the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the deceiver, and Satana, who seduced all the habitable world, and bound him a thousand years;
And he seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the Deceiver and Satan, who seduced the whole habitable world: and he bound him a thousand years.
And hee laid hold on the dragon that old serpent, which is the deuill and Satan, and bound him a thousand yeres,
He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years.
He took hold of the dragon, that old snake, who is the Devil, or Satan, and chained him for 1,000 years.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
And he tooke the dragon that olde serpent, which is the deuill and Satan, and he bounde him a thousand yeeres:
And he seized the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Tempter and Satan, who deceived the whole world, and bound him a thousand years,
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
And he toke the dragon, that olde serpent, which is the deuyll and Satanas, and he bounde hym a thousand yeres.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent—that is, the Devil, or Satan—and chained him up for a thousand years.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
And he seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan—and bound him for a thousand years,
And he laid hold of the dragon, the old serpent who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
and he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, who is Devil and Adversary, and did bind him a thousand years,
And he toke the dragon that olde serpent (which is the deuell and Satanas) and he bounde him a thousand yeares:
and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
He seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan—and tied him up for a thousand years.
He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
He grabbed the dragon, that old snake—the devil or Satan—and hog tied him for a thousand years.
And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he laid: Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 49:24, Isaiah 49:25, Matthew 8:29, Matthew 19:29, Mark 5:7, Luke 11:20-22, John 12:31, John 16:11, Romans 16:20, Hebrews 2:14
the dragon: Revelation 9:11, Revelation 12:9, Revelation 12:13, Revelation 12:15, Revelation 12:17, Revelation 13:2, Revelation 13:4, Job 1:7, Job 2:1, Job 2:2, 1 Peter 5:8, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6
Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 33:27 - thrust Job 2:6 - save Job 38:11 - but Job 41:34 - he is Psalms 9:6 - destructions Psalms 74:14 - leviathan Psalms 91:13 - the dragon Ecclesiastes 3:17 - for Isaiah 11:9 - for the Isaiah 29:24 - also Isaiah 35:7 - in the Isaiah 65:25 - dust Jeremiah 10:11 - they Ezekiel 29:3 - the great Ezekiel 47:5 - waters to swim in Daniel 2:35 - and filled Daniel 11:45 - he shall come Zechariah 14:7 - at Matthew 8:31 - General Matthew 12:26 - his Matthew 13:39 - enemy Mark 4:15 - Satan Luke 4:6 - All Luke 4:34 - art Luke 8:31 - the deep Luke 10:18 - I beheld Satan John 8:44 - When John 14:30 - the Acts 26:18 - and from Romans 11:25 - until 1 Corinthians 15:28 - all things 2 Corinthians 4:4 - the god 2 Corinthians 11:3 - as 2 Corinthians 11:15 - his Ephesians 2:2 - the prince Ephesians 6:11 - the wiles Colossians 2:15 - having 1 Timothy 4:1 - seducing 2 Timothy 2:26 - out James 2:19 - the 1 John 3:8 - this purpose Revelation 1:18 - the keys Revelation 12:3 - a great Revelation 12:7 - the dragon Revelation 20:7 - General Revelation 20:10 - the devil Revelation 20:11 - I saw
Cross-References
And the princes of Pharaoh beheld her, and praised her unto Pharaoh, - so the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh;
And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely there is no fear of God, in this place, - therefore will they slay me for the sake of my wife.
Moreover also, in truth, my sister daughter of my father, she is, only not daughter of my mother, - so she became my wife.
And so it came to pass when the Gods caused me to wander from my fathers house, that I said to her, This, is thy lovingkindness, wherewith thou shalt deal with me, - Into what-soever place we enter, say of me My brother, is he.
And there came to be a famine in the land, besides the first famine which happened in the days of Abraham, - so Isaac went his way unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines towards Gerar;
Then asked the men of the place as to his wife, and he said, My sister, is she, - For he feared to say My wife, lest said he the men of the place should slay me on account of Rebekah, for fair to Nook on, she is.
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, - Get thee from us, for thou hast become far mightier than we.
And there came out to meet him, Jehu son of Hanani, the seer, who said unto King Jehoshaphat, Unto the lawless, was it right to give help? and, on them who hate Yahweh, to bestow thy love? For this cause, therefore, is there wrath against thee, from before Yahweh;
Then prophesied, Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah, against Jehoshaphat, saying, - Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Yahweh hath broken in pieces thy works. So the ships were wrecked, and were not able to go unto Tarshish.
Yet verily, with regard to the ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire concerning the wonderful token which came to pass in the land, God left him, - to prove him, to take note of all that was in his heart.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Ver. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon,.... By whom is meant not Paganism, for that was destroyed in the Roman empire under the sixth seal, and was the consequence of the war between Michael and his angels, and the dragon and his; and before this time it will be destroyed in other parts under the sixth and seventh vials, when the kings of the earth, being gathered together at Armageddon, will be slain, and the cities of the nations will fall, not only Papal, but Pagan, and Mahometan; and what will not will be converted, for before this time the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Christ: but the devil himself is intended, so called, partly because of his great power, authority, and cruelty he has exercised in the world; and because of the venom and poison of idolatry, superstition, false doctrine, and worship, with which he has infected the inhabitants of it.
That old serpent; so called with respect to his cunning and subtlety, as well as his antiquity, being from the beginning of the creation, and having as early beguiled our first parents;
which is the devil and Satan; the accuser of God and men, and the adversary of them both. The Complutensian edition and Syriac version add, "which deceiveth the whole world"; and the Arabic version, "the deceiver of the whole world"; which seems to be taken out of Revelation 12:9,
Revelation 12:9- :. Him Christ "laid hold on", and whom he held fast, as the word signifies: Christ will now take him, apprehend him, and detain him, as his prisoner; in the wilderness, Satan only felt the dint of his sword, the written word of God, and was obliged to leave him: but now he will feel the weight of his hand, and the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger; in the agony or conflict with him in the garden, he was conquered by prayer; and on the cross Christ destroyed him through death, but now he will be seized by his power, and crushed under his hand.
And bound him a thousand years, with the great chain he had in his hand: the devil is in chains now, is under the power of divine Providence, and can do nothing without divine permission; but this chain is long, and he appears oftentimes to have great liberty, and ranges about the air and earth, and does much mischief; but now he will be so bound by the power of Christ over him, that he will not be able to stir hand or foot, to disturb the saints, or deceive the nations, whether with false worship, and false doctrine, or by stirring them up to persecute the saints. So of the devil, Asmodaeus, it is said in the Apocrypha,
"And Raphael was sent to heal them both, that is, to scale away the whiteness of Tobit's eyes, and to give Sara the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodeus the evil spirit; because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance. The selfsame time came Tobit home, and entered into his house, and Sara the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper chamber.'' (Tobit 3:17)
that the angel Raphael, אסרהו "bound him". The space of a thousand years is not a certain number for an uncertain, or a large and indeterminate space of time, as in Psalms 90:4 these years are to be taken, not indefinitely, but definitely, for just this number of years exactly, as appears from their having the article prefixed to them; and are called afterwards, no less than four times, τα χιλια ετη, "the thousand years", or these thousand years, Revelation 20:3 and from the things which are attributed to the beginning and ending of these years, which fix the epoch, and period of them; as the binding of Satan, when they begin, and the loosing of him when they end, as well as the reign of the saints with Christ during the whole time; to which may be added, the resurrection of the saints at the commencement of them, and the resurrection of the wicked at the close: but the great question is, whether they are begun or not? if they are begun, when they began; and if not, when they will. Some think that they began either at the birth of Christ, or at his resurrection, or at the destruction of Jerusalem. I put these together, because they were all in one century, within the compass of seventy years, or thereabout; so that if the thousand years began at either of them, they must end in the same century, in 1100. Now though, upon Christ's coming Satan fell like lightning from heaven, and multitudes of men, possessed with devils, were dispossessed by Christ, and he that had the power of death, the devil, was destroyed by him; and upon the preaching of the Gospel by the apostles in the Gentile world, the prince of the world was cast out, his oracles were struck dumb, multitudes were converted, and churches were set up everywhere, yet still Satan was not bound: he was not bound before the death of Christ; witness the many bodies of men possessed by him; his tempting Christ himself in the wilderness; his attacks upon him in the garden, and on the cross; his putting it into the heart of Judas to betray him; and filling the chief priests and scribes with malice and envy against him, to seek his death, which they brought about: nor was he bound, so as not to deceive the Jews, either before or after the death of Christ, nor is he to this day; they were in Christ's time under the influence of their father the devil, whose lust they would do, and did, in putting Christ to death; and after his death, they were instigated by Satan to persecute his apostles in Judea, and elsewhere; and though after the destruction of Jerusalem they had no more power to act in this way, yet they had no less ill will and malice against the Christians, and are to this day filled with enmity against them, and are led captive by Satan, and given up to believe a lie, that the Messiah is not come, and to reject the true Messiah, and to expect a false one: and as for the Heathen world, notwithstanding the progress of the Gospel in it, yet for the first three hundred years Paganism was the established religion of the Roman empire; and Christianity was everywhere spoken against, despised, and persecuted, and sometimes triumphed over, as if it was extinct; and Satan could never be said to be bound, and in prison himself, when he cast such multitudes into prison, and caused them to have tribulation ten days, Revelation 2:10 in which so many martyrs suffered; nor did Satan appear to be bound, with respect to the church; the mystery of iniquity began to work in the apostle's times, and there were then many antichrists in the world, deceivers, false teachers and heretics; there was a synagogue of Satan, Revelation 2:9 and such a set of vile persons under the name of Christians, as scarce ever was in the world; to which may be added, the great decline of love, and other graces, and of the purity of doctrine and worship in the best churches, and the many contentions among themselves, in which Satan had a great hand, and therefore could not be bound: moreover, some hundreds of years before the thousand years ended, beginning from either of the above dates, the man of sin, the son of perdition, the pope, or western antichrist, was revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 and therefore surely he could not be bound then; besides, Mahomet, the eastern antichrist, sprung up, who opened the bottomless pit, and let out the smoke of it, by the Alcoran he delivered, and the false worship he set up: nor was there anything in the eleventh century, which answered to the loosing of Satan, to the Gog and Magog army, their war with the saints, and the issue of it; nor were the nations then more deceived than they had been in some centuries past; at least they were deceived in centuries past, both by the pope and Mahomet, which they would not have been, had Satan been bound then: to which may be subjoined, that if Satan was loosed, then he cannot be said to be loosed a little season, as in Revelation 20:3 in comparison of the thousand years, as that must be understood; since it is now between six and seven hundred years since, which is more than half a thousand years. Others begin these years at Constantine's coming to the imperial throne; but though there was at that time a great spread of the Gospel, an enlargement of Christ's kingdom, and a weakening of Satan's, yet Satan was far from being bound; see Revelation 12:7 witness the flood of errors and heresies which he quickly brought in, as the Eutychian and Nestorian heresies, the one confounding the natures, the other dividing the person of Christ; the Pelagian heresy, which obscured the grace of God, and advanced the free will of man; the Macedonian heresy, which denied the divinity of the Spirit: and especially the Arian heresy, which was opposed to the deity of Christ, and which introduced great contentions and confusion the churches, and issued in a violent persecution of them, being embraced by the sons of Constantine: not to take notice of Julian, an Heathen emperor, ascending the throne, who by many devilish arts endeavoured to extirpate Christianity; nor what has been observed before, the rise of both Mahomet in the east, and the Romish antichrist in the west, which were both within this period; in process of time the western empire was overrun by the Goths and Vandals, and the eastern empire by the Saracens and Turks; to which may be added, the violent persecutions of the Waldenses and Albigenses, before the year 1300, about which time the thousand years must cease, according to this computation, for opposing the pope of Rome, and who were slain where Satan had his seat, Revelation 2:13 and therefore not bound; nor was there anything happened in that century which might answer to the loosing of him. Others date these thousand years from the Reformation, and so not much more than two hundred of them are yet passed; but that Satan was not bound then, and is not now, is manifest. All the Popish nations have not been reformed, but still remain under the deception; and some, that have been, have revolted again; and the devil has continued to deceive the nations with that false worship, and to stir them up to persecute the reformed. Witness the burning of them here in Queen Mary's days, the massacres in France and Ireland, the present inquisition in Spain and Portugal, and the persecution of the Hugonots in France, and other Protestants elsewhere: and this is further evident from the decline in the reformed churches, both as to doctrine, discipline, and conversation; from the spread of errors and heresies of all kinds ever since, and especially in our age; and from the general profaneness and infidelity of the times, which, when considered, no man in his senses can ever think that Satan is bound; nor indeed will he be bound, or these thousand years begin, till after the conversion of the Jews, and the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles, and the destruction of all the antichristian powers, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan, as appears from the order of this vision, and its connection with the preceding chapter.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And he laid hold on - Seized him by violence - ἐκράτησεν ekratēsen. The word denotes “the employment of strength” or “force”; and it implies that he had power superior to that of the dragon. Compare Matthew 14:3; Matthew 18:28; Matthew 21:46; Matthew 22:6; Matthew 26:4. We can at once see the propriety of the use of this word in this connection. The great enemy to be bound has himself mighty power, and can be overcome only by a superior. This may teach us that it is only a power from heaven that can destroy the empire of Satan in the world; and perhaps it may teach us that the interposition of angels will be employed in bringing in the glorious state of the millennium. Why should it not be?
The dragon - See the notes on Revelation 12:2. Compare Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:13, Revelation 12:16-17; Revelation 13:2, Revelation 13:4, Revelation 13:11; Revelation 16:13. There can be no doubt as to the meaning of the word here; for it is expressly said to mean the devil, and Satan. It would seem, however, that it refers to some manifestation of the power of Satan that would exist after the beast and false prophet - that is, the papacy and Mohammedanism - should be destroyed, and probably the main reference is to the still existing power of paganism. Compare the notes on Revelation 16:13-14. It may include, however, all the forms of wickedness which Satan shall have kept upon the earth, and all the modes of evil by which he will endeavor to perpetuate his reign.
That old serpent - This is undoubtedly an allusion to the serpent that deceived our first parents (Genesis 3:1 ff.), and therefore a proof that it was Satan that, under the form of a serpent, deceived them. Compare notes on Revelation 12:3.
Which is the devil - On the meaning of this word, see the notes on Matthew 4:1.
And Satan - On the meaning of this word, see the notes on Job 1:6. In regard to the repetition of the names of that great enemy of God and the church here, Mr. Taylor, in the Fragments to Calmet’s Dictionary, No. 152, says that this “almost resembles a modern Old Bailey indictment, in which special care is taken to identify the culprit, by a sufficient number of aliases. An angel from heaven, having the key of the prison of the abyss, and a great chain to secure the prisoner, ‘apprehended the dragon, alias the old serpent, alias the devil, alias the Satan, alias the seducer of the world,’ who was sentenced to a thousand years’ imprisonment.” The object here, however, seems to be not so much to identify the culprit by these aliases, as to show that under whatever forms, and by whatever names he had appeared, it was always the same being, and that now the author of the whole evil would be arrested. Thus the one great enemy sometimes has appeared in a form that would be best represented by a fierce and fiery dragon; at another, in a form that would be best represented by a cunning and subtle serpent; now in a form to which the word “devil” (“accuser”), would be most appropriate; and now in a form in which the word “Satan” - an adversary - would be most expressive of what he does. In these various forms, and under these various names, he has ruled the fallen world; and when this one great enemy shall be seized and imprisoned, all these forms of evil will, of course, come to an end.
A thousand years - This is the period usually designated as the millennium - for the word “millennium” means “a thousand years.” It is on this passage that the whole doctrine of the millennium as such has been founded. It is true that there are elsewhere in the Scriptures abundant promises that the gospel will ultimately spread over the world; but the notion of a millennium as such is found in this passage alone. It is, however, enough to establish the doctrine, if its meaning be correctly ascertained; for it is a just rule in interpreting the Bible, that the clearly-ascertained sense of a single passage of Scripture is sufficient to establish the truth of a doctrine. The fact, however, that this passage stands alone in this respect, makes it the more important to endeavor accurately to determine its meaning. There are but three ways in which the phrase “a thousand years” can be understood here: either:
(a)Literally; or,
(b)In the prophetic use of the term, where a day would stand for a year, thus making a period of three hundred and sixty thousand years; or,
(c)Figuratively, supposing that it refers to a long but indefinite period of time.
It may be impossible to determine which of these periods is intended, though the first has been generally supposed to be the true one, and hence the common notion of the millennium. There is nothing, however, in the use of the language here, as there would be nothing contrary to the common use of symbols in this book in regard to time, in the supposition that this was designed to describe the longest period here suggested, or that it is meant that the world shall enjoy a reign of peace and righteousness during the long period of three hundred and sixty thousand years. Indeed, there are somethings in the arrangements of nature which look as if it were contemplated that the earth would continue under a reign of righteousness through a vastly long period in the future.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Revelation 20:2. The dragon — Revelation 12:9; Revelation 12:9.
That old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan — He who is called the old serpent is the DEVIL-the calumniator, and SATAN-the opposer. He who supposes that the term old serpent here plainly proves that the creature that tempted our first parents was actually a snake, must enjoy his opinion; and those who can receive such a saying, why let them receive it. Selah.
A thousand years — In what this binding of Satan consists, who can tell? How many visions have been seen on this subject both in ancient and modern times! This, and what is said Revelation 20:3-5, no doubt refers to a time in which the influence of Satan will be greatly restrained, and the true Church of God enjoy great prosperity, which shall endure for a long time. But it is not likely that the number, a thousand years, is to be taken literally here, and year symbolically and figuratively in all the book beside. The doctrine of the millennium, or of the saints reigning on earth a thousand years, with Christ for their head, has been illustrated and defended by many Christian writers, both among the ancients and moderns. Were I to give a collection of the conceits of the primitive fathers on this subject, my readers would have little reason to applaud my pains. It has long been the idle expectation of many persons that the millennium, in their sense, was at hand; and its commencement has been expected in every century since the Christian era. It has been fixed for several different years, during the short period of my own life! I believed those predictions to be vain, and I have lived to see them such. Yet there is no doubt that the earth is in a state of progressive moral improvement; and that the light of true religion is shining more copiously everywhere, and will shine more and more to the perfect day. But when the religion of Christ will be at its meridian of light and heat, we know not. In each believer this may speedily take place; but probably no such time shall ever appear, in which evil shall be wholly banished from the earth, till after the day of judgment, when the earth having been burnt up, a new heaven and a new earth shall be produced out of the ruins of the old, by the mighty power of God: righteousness alone shall dwell in them. The phraseology of the apostle here seems partly taken from the ancient prophets, and partly rabbinical; and it is from the Jewish use of those terms that we are to look for their interpretation.
