The Scroll and the Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne^(A) a scroll with writing on both sides^(B) and sealed^(C) with seven seals.

⁹ Then I looked, and I saw a hand^(A) stretched out to me. In it was a scroll,^{(B) 10} which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.^(C)

¹¹ For you this whole vision^(A) is nothing but words sealed^(B) in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.”

⁷ He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.^(A)

² He was holding a little scroll,^(A) which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,^(B)

The Seals

6 I watched as the Lamb^(A) opened the first of the seven seals.^(B) Then I heard one of the four living creatures^(C) say in a voice like thunder,^(D) “Come!”

⁴ But you, Daniel, roll up and seal^(A) the words of the scroll until the time of the end.^(B) Many will go here and there^(C) to increase knowledge.”

⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank.^{(D) 6} One of them said to the man clothed in linen,^(E) who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”^(F)

⁷ The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand^(G) and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever,^(H) saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time.^[a](I) When the power of the holy people^(J) has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.^(K)”

⁸ I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”

⁹ He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed^(L) until the time of the end.^(M)

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth^(A) and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven^(A) spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll^(B) that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’^[a]”^{(C) 10} I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth,^(D) but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. ¹¹ Then I was told, “You must prophesy^(E) again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”^(F)