Revelation 6:1-8

EasyEnglish Bible

The Lamb opens the seals

6 Then I watched while the Lamb opened one of the seven seals on the book. I heard one of the four beings say, ‘Come!’ It spoke very loudly with a voice like thunder. ²I looked, and I saw a white horse. The person who was riding the horse held a bow. Someone gave him a crown. He had fought against many people and he had won. Now he rode out on his horse to win against many more people.

³Then the Lamb opened the second seal. I heard another of the beings say, ‘Come!’ ⁴Then another horse came out. This horse was bright red, like fire. The person who was riding the horse had authority. He could take peace away from the earth, so that people killed each other. Someone gave him a large sword.

⁵Then the Lamb opened the third seal. I heard the next being say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and I saw a black horse. The person who was riding the horse held something in his hand. He used it to weigh things. ⁶Then I heard a sound like somebody speaking among the four beings. The voice said, ‘A litre of wheat is worth one day's work. And three litres of barley is also worth one day's work. But do not destroy the olive oil and the wine.’^[a]

⁷Then the Lamb opened the fourth seal. I heard the last being say, ‘Come!’ ⁸I looked, and I saw a grey horse.^[b] The name of the person who was riding the horse was Death. The place for dead people, called Hades, was following near to him. They had authority to kill people in a quarter of the earth. They could kill people in different ways. They could kill them in wars. They could cause people to die because there was no food. They could cause people to become very ill so that they died. They could also cause wild animals to kill people.

⁹Then the Lamb opened the fifth seal. I saw an altar where people offered gifts to God. I saw the souls of some of God's people under the altar. These people had died because they had believed God's message. They had continued to speak the true message about Jesus Christ. That is why people had killed them. ¹⁰These believers called out loudly, ‘Lord, you have all authority. You are completely good. You always do what is right. When will you decide to judge the people who live on the earth? Do not wait! You should quickly punish the people who killed us!’

¹¹Then each believer received white clothes. God told them to wait for a short time more. They must wait until other believers on earth also died. These believers are also servants of God. God will wait until people kill those believers too. Then the number of them will be complete.

¹²I watched again. I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal. Then the ground shook with a great earthquake. The sun became black like thick black cloth. The whole moon became red like blood. ¹³The stars in the sky fell to the earth. They fell like fruits fall from a tree when a strong wind blows. ¹⁴The sky divided into two parts. It rolled up like a piece of paper. Every mountain and every island moved away from its place.

¹⁵Then everyone on the earth hid themselves. They went to the mountains and they hid among the rocks and in holes in the rocks. Everyone tried to hide, even the kings and the rulers. The soldiers' leaders, the rich people and other powerful people all went to hide. Everyone hid, whether they were slaves or free people. ¹⁶They shouted to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and cover us. Hide us, so that the one who sits on the throne cannot see us. Also hide us from the Lamb who is very angry with us. ¹⁷Their great day has come. They will punish us because they are so angry. Nobody will be able to escape.’

God marks his people from Israel

7 After this, I saw four angels. They were standing at the four corners of the earth. They were stopping the four winds of the earth. As a result, no wind could blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. ²Then I saw another angel who was coming up from the east. He was carrying the seal of the God who lives for ever. He shouted loudly to the four other angels. They had received authority to destroy the land and the sea. ³But he shouted to them, ‘Do not destroy the land or the sea or the trees yet. Wait until we put a seal on the heads of God's servants. God's seal on the front of their heads will keep them safe.’

⁴Then I heard how many people received God's seal. The number of people was 144,000. They came from all the tribes of Israel's people:

⁵12,000 from Judah's tribe,

12,000 from Reuben's tribe,

12,000 from Gad's tribe,

⁶12,000 from Asher's tribe,

12,000 from Naphtali's tribe,

12,000 from Manasseh's tribe,

⁷12,000 from Simeon's tribe,

12,000 from Levi's tribe,

12,000 from Issachar's tribe,

⁸12,000 from Zebulun's tribe,

12,000 from Joseph's tribe,

12,000 from Benjamin's tribe.^[c]

The large crowd who were wearing white clothes

⁹After this, I looked again. I saw a very big crowd of people. There were so many people that nobody could count them. They came from every nation, from every tribe and from every language. They were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing long white clothes and they held branches of palm trees in their hands.^[d]

¹⁰They shouted loudly:

‘We worship our God who sits on the throne.
And we worship the Lamb.
They have saved us from Satan's power.’

¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne, and around the leaders and the four beings. The angels all bent down so that their faces touched the ground. They worshipped God who was on the throne in front of them. ¹²They said:

‘This is true!
We worship our God and we give him honour.
He is completely wise.
We thank him and we praise him.
He has all power and authority for ever!
Amen!’

¹³Then one of the leaders asked me, ‘Who are these people in white clothes? Where did they come from?’

¹⁴I replied, ‘You surely know who they are, sir.’

He said to me, ‘They are the people who have had a time of very bad trouble. Now they have come out of that. They have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb. Now their clothes are white and clean.^[e] ¹⁵Because of that, they are now standing in front of God's throne. They serve God in his house all the time, day and night. And God will keep them safe because he is with them. ¹⁶They will never again be hungry. They will never be thirsty. The sun will not burn them, nor will any other strong heat burn them. ¹⁷The Lamb is there with them, near to God's throne. He will take care of them, like a shepherd with his sheep. He will take them to drink fresh water that gives people life. They will no longer be sad. God will take away all the tears from their eyes.’

The Lamb opens the last seal

8 The Lamb opened the seventh seal. Then it became completely quiet in heaven for about half an hour.

Footnotes

6:6 Wheat and barley are plants that farmers grow. People use the seeds to make flour for bread. The rider on the black horse weighs the wheat and barley seeds. They are very expensive. This shows a time of trouble when people will not have enough food to eat. There may not be enough water to grow wheat or barley. But the rider on the black horse must not destroy the fruits that grow on trees (olives and grapes). So this time of trouble will not destroy everything that people need.
6:8 The ‘grey’ horse is the same colour as a person who is ill or dead.
7:8 The 12 names in this list were all sons of Jacob, except Manasseh, who was Joseph's son. Jacob's other name was Israel. He was the ancestor of Israel's people. The angel did not include the name of Jacob's other son, Dan, in the list.
7:9 The branches of a palm tree have big leaves. At the time when Jesus lived on this earth, people used palm branches at special events. They thought that the palm tree was a special tree. The people held palm branches when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. This was because they were so happy to see him. They were showing that he was a great king. They were showing that he would beat all his enemies. See John 12:13.
7:14 This verse is not telling us about clothes that we wear on our bodies. See Revelation 3:4,18. The ‘clothes’ mean what we are really like in our spirits. Jesus' blood poured out when he died for us. He can make our spirits as clean as white clothes if we believe in him.