You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.

Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!

The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent---that is, the Devil, or Satan---and chained him up for a thousand years.

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 set loose for a little while.

He boasted to them about how rich he was, how many sons he had, how the king had promoted him to high office, and how much more important he was than any of the king's other officials.

The world of the dead is hungry for them, and it opens its mouth wide. It gulps down the nobles of Jerusalem along with the noisy crowd of common people.

The LORD Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honored ones.

As the scripture says, "All human beings are like grass, and all their glory is like wild flowers. The grass withers, and the flowers fall,

Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.

I cannot talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,

At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.

The beast looked like a leopard, with feet like a bear's feet and a mouth like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority.

It was allowed to fight against God's people and to defeat them, and it was given authority over every tribe, nation, language, and race.