12 And I watched when he opened the sixth seal, and a great earthquake took place, and the sun became black like sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of heaven[a] fell to the earth like a fig tree throws down its unripe figs when[b] shaken by a great wind. 14 And the sky was split apart like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved from their place. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the most important people, and the military leaders, and the rich, and the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

The Sealing of the 144,000

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east[c], holding the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were given permission[d] to damage the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the ones who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed,

from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Simeon,[e] twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand,

from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.

The Great Crowd before the Throne

After these things I looked, and behold, a great crowd that no one was able to number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were crying out with a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation to our God
who is seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”

11 And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,

“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God forever and ever[f]. Amen!”

Footnotes

  1. Revelation 6:13 Or “of the sky”
  2. Revelation 6:13 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“shaken”) which is understood as temporal
  3. Revelation 7:2 Literally “from the rising of the sun”
  4. Revelation 7:2 Literally “to whom was granted to them”
  5. Revelation 7:7 Or “Symeon,” an alternate spelling of the Greek form of the name
  6. Revelation 7:12 Literally “for the ages of the ages”