---
title: "Revelation 20 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/revelation/20/
description: "Satan is bound for a thousand years. The souls of the martyrs reign with… Revelation 20 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Revelation 20

Revelation 20 is chapter 20 of 22 in Revelation. Here are all 15 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Satan is bound for a thousand years. The souls of the martyrs reign with Christ in the first resurrection. The last attempts of Satan against the church. The last judgment.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Revelation 20 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. And I saw an Angel, descending from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the abyss and a great chain.
2. And he apprehended the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand years.
3. And he cast him into the abyss, and he closed and sealed it, so that he would no longer seduce the nations, until the thousand years are completed. And after these things, he must be released for a brief time.
4. And I saw thrones. And they sat upon them. And judgment was given to them. And the souls of those beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God, and who did not adore the beast, nor his image, nor accept his character on their foreheads or on their hands: they lived and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5. The rest of the dead did not live, until the thousand years are completed. This is the First Resurrection.
6. Blessed and holy is he who takes part in the First Resurrection. Over these the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him for a thousand years.
7. And when the thousand years will have been completed, Satan shall be released from his prison, and he will go out and seduce the nations which are upon the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog. And he will gather them together for battle, those whose number is like the sand of the sea.
8. And they climbed across the breadth of the earth, and they encompassed the camp of the Saints and the Beloved City.
9. And fire from God descended from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and sulphur,
10. where both the beast and the false prophetess shall be tortured, day and night, forever and ever.
11. And I saw a great white throne, and One sitting upon it, from whose sight earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them.
12. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in view of the throne. And books were opened. And another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by those things that had been written in the books, according to their works.
13. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. And death and Hell gave up their dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
14. And Hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death.
15. And whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the pool of fire.

## Revelation 20 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Et vidi angelum descendentem de cælo, habentem clavem abyssi, et catenam magnam in manu sua.
2. Et apprehendit draconem, serpentem antiquum, qui est diabolus, et Satanas, et ligavit eum per annos mille:
3. et misit eum in abyssum, et clausit, et signavit super illum ut non seducat amplius gentes, donec consummentur mille anni: et post hæc oportet illum solvi modico tempore.
4. Et vidi sedes, et sederunt super eas, et judicium datum est illis: et animas decollatorum propter testimonium Jesu, et propter verbum Dei, et qui non adoraverunt bestiam, neque imaginem ejus, nec acceperunt caracterem ejus in frontibus, aut in manibus suis, et vixerunt, et regnaverunt cum Christo mille annis.
5. Ceteri mortuorum non vixerunt, donec consummentur mille anni. Hæc est resurrectio prima.
6. Beatus, et sanctus, qui habet partem in resurrectione prima: in his secunda mors non habet potestatem: sed erunt sacerdotes Dei et Christi, et regnabunt cum illo mille annis.
7. Et cum consummati fuerint mille anni, solvetur Satanas de carcere suo, et exibit, et seducet gentes, quæ sunt super quatuor angulos terræ, Gog, et Magog, et congregabit eos in prælium, quorum numerus est sicut arena maris.
8. Et ascenderunt super latitudinem terræ, et circuierunt castra sanctorum, et civitatem dilectam.
9. Et descendit ignis a Deo de cælo, et devoravit eos: et diabolus, qui seducebat eos, missus est in stagnum ignis, et sulphuris, ubi et bestia
10. et pseudopropheta cruciabuntur die ac nocte in sæcula sæculorum.
11. Et vidi thronum magnum candidum, et sedentem super eum, a cujus conspectu fugit terra, et cælum, et locus non est inventus eis.
12. Et vidi mortuos, magnos et pusillos, stantes in conspectu throni, et libri aperti sunt: et alius liber apertus est, qui est vitæ: et judicati sunt mortui ex his, quæ scripta erant in libris, secundum opera ipsorum:
13. et dedit mare mortuos, qui in eo erant: et mors et infernus dederunt mortuos suos, qui in ipsis erant: et judicatum est de singulis secundum opera ipsorum.
14. Et infernus et mors missi sunt in stagnum ignis. Hæc est mors secunda.
15. Et qui non inventus est in libro vitæ scriptus, missus est in stagnum ignis.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 677: He Will Come Again in Glory ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 677: He Will Come Again in Glory ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 2: “Bound him” … The power of Satan has been very much limited by the passion of Christ: for a thousand years; that is, for the whole time of the New Testament; but especially from the time of the destruction of Babylon or pagan Rome, till the new efforts of Gog and Magog against the church, towards the end of the world. During which time the souls of the martyrs and saints live and reign with Christ in heaven, in the first resurrection, which is that of the soul to the life of glory; as the second resurrection will be that of the body, at the day of the general judgment.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Fri, Nov 27, 2026: Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Revelation 20:1-4, 11—21:2
- Fri, Dec 1, 2028 (computed): Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Revelation 20:1-4, 11—21:2

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).