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12 Then I watched while the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black like ·rough black cloth [L sackcloth made of goat hair; C clothing used in mourning], and the whole moon became red like blood [C signifying destruction; apocalyptic literature often describes nature falling apart at the end time; Joel 2:31]. 13 And the stars in the sky fell to the earth like ·figs [or unripe figs] falling from a fig tree when ·the wind blows [L shaken by a strong wind/gale]. 14 The sky ·disappeared [vanished] as a scroll when it is rolled up [Is. 34:4], and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

15 Then the kings of the earth, the ·rulers [princes; nobles; magnates], the generals, the rich people, the powerful people, ·the slaves, and the free people [L and everyone, both slave and free; C people of every status and economic level] hid themselves in caves and in the rocks on the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us. Hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne and from the ·anger [wrath] of the Lamb! 17 [L Because] The great day for their ·anger [wrath] has come [C the final judgment], and who can stand against it [C a rhetorical question]?”

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The Sixth Seal—Terror

12 I looked when He (the Lamb) broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as [a]sackcloth [made] of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;(A) 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree shedding its late [summer] figs when shaken by a strong wind.(B) 14 The sky was split [separated from the land] and rolled up like a scroll, and every mountain and island were dislodged and moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the [b]military commanders and the wealthy and the strong and everyone, [whether] slave or free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the [righteous] wrath and indignation of the Lamb;(C) 17 for the great day of their wrath and vengeance and retribution has come, and who is able to [face God and] stand [before the wrath of the Lamb]?”(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 6:12 This was a coarse, uncomfortable material usually made of black goat hair and customarily worn as a sign of mourning or repentance.
  2. Revelation 6:15 Lit chiliarchs, a Greek word literally meaning a ruler (commander) of a thousand men, but used generally of high-ranking military officers.