Revelation 6–8

Chapter 6

The Book Opened; The First Seal—Rider on White Horse

¹Then I saw when the ^aLamb broke one of the ^bseven seals, and I heard one of the ^cfour living creatures saying as with a ^dvoice of thunder, “Come¹.”

²I looked, and behold, a ^awhite horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and ^ba crown was given to him, and he went out ^cconquering and to conquer.

The Second Seal—War

³When He broke the second seal, I heard the ^asecond living creature saying, “Come¹.”

⁴And another, ^aa red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to ^btake peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

The Third Seal—Famine

⁵When He broke the third seal, I heard the ^athird living creature saying, “Come¹.” I looked, and behold, a ^bblack horse; and he who sat on it had a ^cpair of scales in his hand.

⁶And I heard something like a voice in the center of the ^afour living creatures saying, “A ¹quart of wheat for a ²denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and ^bdo not damage the oil and the wine.”

The Fourth Seal—Death

⁷When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the ^afourth living creature saying, “Come¹.”

⁸I looked, and behold, an ^1aashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name ^bDeath; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, ^cto kill with sword and with famine and with ²pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

The Fifth Seal—Martyrs

⁹When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw ^aunderneath the ^baltar the ^csouls of those who had been slain ^dbecause of the word of God, and because of the ^etestimony which they had maintained;

¹⁰and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “^aHow long, O ^1bLord, ^choly and true, ²will You refrain from ^djudging and avenging our blood on ^ethose who dwell on the earth?”

¹¹And ^athere was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should ^brest for a little while longer, ^cuntil the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be ^dcompleted also.

The Sixth Seal—Terror

¹²I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great ^aearthquake; and the ^bsun became black as ^csackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

¹³and ^athe stars of the sky fell to the earth, ^bas a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.

^14aThe sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and ^bevery mountain and island were moved out of their places.

¹⁵Then ^athe kings of the earth and the great men and the ¹commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

¹⁶and they ^asaid to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the ¹presence of Him ^bwho sits on the throne, and from the ^cwrath of the Lamb;

¹⁷for ^athe great day of their wrath has come, and ^bwho is able to stand?”

Chapter 7

An Interlude

¹After this I saw ^afour angels standing at the ^bfour corners of the earth, holding back ^cthe four winds of the earth, ^dso that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

²And I saw another angel ascending ^afrom the rising of the sun, having the ^bseal of ^cthe living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the ^dfour angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,

³saying, “^aDo not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have ^bsealed the bond-servants of our God on their ^cforeheads.”

The 144,000

⁴And I heard the ^anumber of those who were sealed, ^bone hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

⁵From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

⁶from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

⁷from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

⁸from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.

A Multitude from the Tribulation

⁹After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from ^aevery nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing ^bbefore the throne and ^cbefore the Lamb, clothed in ^dwhite robes, and ^epalm branches were in their hands;

¹⁰and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,

“^aSalvation to our God ^bwho sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

¹¹And all the angels were standing ^aaround the throne and around the elders and the ^bfour living creatures; and they ^cfell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

¹²saying,

“^aAmen, ^bblessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

¹³Then one of the elders ^aanswered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the ^bwhite robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”

¹⁴I ¹said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the ^agreat tribulation, and they have ^bwashed their robes and made them ^cwhite in the ^dblood of the Lamb.

¹⁵“For this reason, they are ^abefore the throne of God; and they ^bserve Him day and night in His ^1ctemple; and ^dHe who sits on the throne will spread His ^etabernacle over them.

¹⁶“^aThey will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun ¹beat down on them, nor any heat;

¹⁷for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their ^ashepherd, and will guide them to springs of the ^1bwater of life; and ^cGod will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Chapter 8

The Seventh Seal—the Trumpets

¹When the Lamb broke the ^aseventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

²And I saw ^athe seven angels who stand before God, and seven ^btrumpets were given to them.

^3aAnother angel came and stood at the ^baltar, holding a ^cgolden censer; and much ^dincense was given to him, so that he might ¹add it to the prayers of all the ²saints on the ^egolden altar which was before the throne.

⁴And ^athe smoke of the incense, ¹with the prayers of the ²saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.

⁵Then the angel ¹took the censer and ^afilled it with the fire of the altar, and ^bthrew it to the earth; and there followed ^cpeals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an ^dearthquake.

^6aAnd the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.

⁷The first sounded, and there came ^ahail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and ^ba third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the ^ctrees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

⁸The second angel sounded, and something like a great ^amountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and ^ba third of the ^csea became blood,

⁹and ^aa third of the creatures which were in the sea ¹and had life, died; and a third of the ^bships were destroyed.

¹⁰The third angel sounded, and a great star ^afell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a ^bthird of the rivers and on the ^csprings of waters.

¹¹The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a ^athird of the waters became ^bwormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.

¹²The fourth angel sounded, and a ^athird of the ^bsun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.

¹³Then I looked, and I heard ¹an eagle flying in ^amidheaven, saying with a loud voice, “^bWoe, woe, woe to ^cthose who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the ^dthree angels who are about to sound!”