¹¹ Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters^[a]—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.

Praise from the Great Crowd

⁹ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”

¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”

Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in^[a] the great tribulation.^[b] They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

⁴⁰ For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Restoration for Israel

⁶ I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement.

¹⁵ He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.

² For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.