Psalm 23

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

³⁹ As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve your idols, every one of you now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me, but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.^(A)

⁴⁰ For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land; there I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred things.^{(B) 41} As a pleasing odor I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.^{(C) 42} You shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your ancestors.^{(D) 43} There you shall remember your ways and all the deeds by which you have polluted yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed.^{(E) 44} And you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.^(F)

The Seven Seals

6 Then I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!”^{[a](A) 2} I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.^(B)

³ When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come!”^{[b] 4} And out came^[c] another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another, and he was given a great sword.^(C)

⁵ When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come!”^[d] I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand,^{(D) 6} and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay^[e] and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay,^[f] but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

⁷ When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come!”^{[g] 8} I looked, and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence and by the wild animals of the earth.^(E)

⁹ When he broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given;^{(F) 10} they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”^{(G) 11} They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.^(H)

¹² When he broke the sixth seal, I looked, and there was a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,^{(I) 13} and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.^{(J) 14} The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.^{(K) 15} Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,^{(L) 16} calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,^{(M) 17} for the great day of their^[h] wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”^(N)

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

7 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 earth or sea or against any tree.^{(O) 2} I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, ³ saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”^(P)

⁴ And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:^(Q)