The Seventh Seal

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence(A) in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God;(B) seven trumpets were given to them.(C) Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne.(D) The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar,(E) and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.(F)

The Seven Trumpets

And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The First Trumpet

The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth.(G) So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.(H)

The Second Trumpet

The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea.(I) So a third of the sea became blood,(J) a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The Third Trumpet

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven.(K) It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood,(L) and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.

The Fourth Trumpet

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.(M)

13 I looked and heard an eagle[a] flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe!(N) Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”

Footnotes

  1. 8:13 Other mss read angel

The Lamb Breaks the Seventh Seal

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll,[a] there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.

The First Four Trumpets

Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts.

The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned.

Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed.

10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was Bitterness.[b] It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water.

12 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, “Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets.”

Footnotes

  1. 8:1 Or book.
  2. 8:11 Greek Wormwood.