Revelation 6:1–9:21
6 I watched as the Lamba opened the first of the seven seals.b Then I heard one of the four living creaturesc say in a voice like thunder,d “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse!e Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown,f and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.g
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creatureh say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one.i Its rider was given power to take peace from the earthj and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creaturek say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse!l Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures,m saying, “Two poundsa of wheat for a day’s wages,b and six poundsc of barley for a day’s wages,d n and do not damageo the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creaturep say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse!q Its rider was named Death, and Hadesr was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.s
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw undert the altaru the souls of those who had been slainv because of the word of Godw and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long,x Sovereign Lord,y holy and true,z until you judge the inhabitants of the eartha and avenge our blood?”b 11 Then each of them was given a white robe,c and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,e were killed just as they had been.d
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.e The sun turned blackf like sackclothg made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth,h as figs drop from a fig treei when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up,j and every mountain and island was removed from its place.k
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free,l hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.m 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on usn and hide usf from the face of him who sits on the throneo and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great dayp of theirg wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”q
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four cornersr of the earth, holding back the four windss of the earth to preventt any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the sealu of the living God.v He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:w 3 “Do not harmx the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheadsy of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the numberz of those who were sealed: 144,000a from all the tribes of Israel.
5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
The Great Multitude in White Robes
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language,b standing before the thronec and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robesd and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,e
who sits on the throne,f
and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the eldersg and the four living creatures.h They fell down on their facesi before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”j
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robesk—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robesl and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.m 15 Therefore,
“they are before the throne of Godn
and serve himo day and night in his temple;p
and he who sits on the throneq
will shelter them with his presence.r
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.s
The sun will not beat down on them,’a
nor any scorching heat.t
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;u
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’b v
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’c”w
The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
8 When he opened the seventh seal,x there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angelsy who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.z
3 Another angel,a who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people,b on the golden altarc in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before Godd from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar,e and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder,f rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.g
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpetsh prepared to sound them.
7 The first angeli sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and firej mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A thirdk of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.l
8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain,m all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A thirdn of the sea turned into blood,o 9 a thirdp of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the skyq on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waterr—11 the name of the star is Wormwood.a A thirds of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.t
12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a thirdu of them turned dark.v A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.w
13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midairx call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woey to the inhabitants of the earth,z because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”
9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.a The star was given the keyb to the shaft of the Abyss.c 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.d The sun and sky were darkenede by the smoke from the Abyss.f 3 And out of the smoke locustsg came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpionsh of the earth. 4 They were told not to harmi the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,j but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.k 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.l And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpionm when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.n
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.o On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.p 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.q 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.r 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.s 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,t whose name in Hebrewu is Abaddonv and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.w
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four hornsx of the golden altar that is before God.y 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angelsz who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”a 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were releasedb to kill a thirdc of mankind.d 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.e
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouthsf came fire, smoke and sulfur.g 18 A thirdh of mankind was killedi by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfurj that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repentk of the work of their hands;l they did not stop worshiping demons,m and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.n 21 Nor did they repento of their murders, their magic arts,p their sexual …