Revelation 7:1–9:21
7 After this I saw four angelst standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earthu so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel rising up from the east,v who had the seal of the living God.w He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were allowed to harm the earth and the sea, 3 “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the treesx until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.”y 4 And I heard the number of the sealed:
144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:z
5 12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah,
12,000J from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.
A MULTITUDE FROM THE GREAT TRIBULATION
9 After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language,aa which no one could number,ab standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.ac 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
Salvation belongs to our God,ad
who is seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb!
11 All the angels stood around the throne, and along with the elders and the four living creatures they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,
Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
be to our God forever and ever.a Amen.
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes, and where did they come from?”
14 I said to him, “Sir,A you know.”
Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.b They washed their robes and made them whitec in the blood of the Lamb.
15 For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and they serve him day and nightd in his temple.e
The one seated on the throne will shelterB them:f
16 They will no longer hunger;
they will no longer thirst;
the sun will no longer strike them,
nor will any scorching heat.g
17 For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne
will shepherd them;h
he will guide them to springs of the waters of life,i
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.j
8 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silencek in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God;l seven trumpets were given to them.m 3 Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne.n 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar,o and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.p
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth.q So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.r
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea.s So a third of the sea became blood,t 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven.u It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood,v and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.w
13 I looked and heard an eagleC flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe!x Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”
9 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.y The key for the shaft to the abyssz was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a greatD furnaceaa so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.ab 3 Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth,ac and power* was given to themad like the power that scorpions have on the earth.ae 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree,af but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.ag 5 They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.ah
7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.a Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces; 8 they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth;b 9 they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; 10 and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. 11 They had as their kingA the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,B,c and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.C
12 The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.d
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the fourD horns of the golden altare that is before God, I heard a voice 14 say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angelsf bound at the great river Euphrates.”g 15 So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and yearh were released to kill a thirdi of the human race. 16 The number of mounted troops was two hundred million;E I heard their number. 17 This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.j 18 A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues—by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads that inflict injury.
20 The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their handsk to stop worshiping demonsl and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood,m which cannot see, hear, or walk.n 21 And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.