1. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the abyss and a heavy chain.
2. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent — that is, the Devil, or Satan — and chained him up for a thousand years.
3. The angel threw him into the abyss, locked it, and sealed it, so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that he must be let loose for a little while.
4. Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given the power to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been executed because they had proclaimed the truth that Jesus revealed and the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image, nor had they received the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and ruled as kings with Christ for a thousand years.
5. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over.) This is the first raising of the dead.