⁴ Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?”

⁴ “And what are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was talking with me.

⁹ I asked the angel who was talking with me, “My lord, what do these horses mean?”

“I will show you,” the angel replied.

¹³ Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”

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.

Parable of the Wheat and Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

⁶ “What is it?” I asked.

He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain,^[a] and it’s filled with the sins^[b] of everyone throughout the land.”

¹² and what are the two olive branches that pour out golden oil through two gold tubes?”

¹³ “Don’t you know?” he asked.

“No, my lord,” I replied.

¹⁴ Then he said to me, “They represent the two anointed ones^[a] who stand in the court of the Lord of all the earth.”

¹⁹ “What are these?” I asked the angel who was talking with me.

He replied, “These horns represent the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

⁸ I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, “How will all this finally end, my lord?”

¹⁶ So I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant. He explained it to me like this: ¹⁷ “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. ¹⁸ But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.”

¹⁹ Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet.