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Revelation 20:3
ESV and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
NIV He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
NASB and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
CSB He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.
NLT The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while.
KJV And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
NKJV and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

What does Revelation 20:3 mean?

The descending angel captures the Devil, throws him into the bottomless pit, and seals the entrance to the pit. In this verse, we learn that the Devil will not be allowed to deceive the nations during the thousand-year period. His deceptive influence began in the garden of Eden and then manifested itself in the hearts and minds of human beings to lead them into imagining all kinds of evil. God judged this evil by bringing a flood on the earth. Soon after the flood, however, humans congregated at Babel to build a name for themselves and construct a high tower on which they proposed to worship the heavenly bodies. God judged them decisively.

The Devil has continually influenced nations to oppose God's will, and Ephesians 2:2 identifies him as "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." When the Devil offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world if He would fall down and worship him (Matthew 4:9), Jesus did not deny that the Devil possesses the kingdoms. But someday, the Devil will be unable to deceive the nations until he is released from the pit at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ. Then he will be "released for a little while."

The purpose of this release seems to be so that God can prove a point: that no amount of evidence will ever be enough for those determined to reject God. Human sin, and our sin nature, will override everything else if we allow it. During the end times, nonbelievers will react to prophecy and miracles with anger and hate, not repentance. After a millennium of Christ's rule, people on earth will still choose to follow Satan, proving that the excuse "if God had just given me more evidence…" is a lie.
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