I just read the last book of the Bible. I didn't understand a word of it. Okay, that's hyperbolic. I did understand the bit in the beginning about the churches, and some bits and pieces in later chapters made sense. But beast #1 and beast #2, and whoring dragons with a bunch of heads and the thousand years and the 144,000 faithful. Whoa. I did find the ESV introduction very helpful. I didn't know that "Jewish apocalyptic literature flourished in the centuries following the completion of the OT cannon perhaps in part to help the oppressed people of God to find purpose in their suffering and hope for their future in the absence of genuine prophetic words from God." Kinda makes me want to 1) figure out what was going on historical and 2)research apocalypse as a genre. Bucket list.