Book of Common Prayer

4 After this, I looked and saw a door open in heaven. I heard the same voice that I had heard before. It was like the sound of a horn or trumpet. It said, `Come up here. I will show you the things that must happen after this.'

² Right away, I was in the Spirit. I saw a throne or chief chair in heaven.

³ The one who sat on the throne looked very fine and bright. He looked like fine stones called jasper and carnelian. All around his chair was a rainbow that looked like a fine stone called emerald.

⁴ Around his throne I saw twenty-four other thrones. On them sat twenty-four leaders. They wore white clothes and had gold crowns on their heads.

⁵ From the throne came lightning, loud noises, and thunder. In front of the throne, seven bright lamps were burning. These lamps are the seven Spirits of God.

⁶ In front of the throne, it was like a sea of glass. It looked like a stone called crystal. Around the throne on the four sides of it were four living beings. They had many eyes in their faces and in their back.

⁷ The first living thing was like a lion. The second one was like a young cow. The third one had the face of a man. The fourth one was like a flying eagle.

⁸ Each of the four living beings had six wings. They had many eyes all over their bodies and under their wings. They say all the time, day and night: `Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God. He has all power. He always has lived. He lives now. And he always will live.'

⁴⁵ `Who is like a wise servant who can be trusted? His master will put him in charge of his other servants. He gives them their food at the right time.

⁴⁶ The servant who is doing this when his master comes, will be blessed.

⁴⁷ I tell you the truth. His master will put him in charge of all that he has.

⁴⁸ But if the servant is bad, he will say to himself, "My master will not come just now."

⁴⁹ Then he will begin to beat the other servants. He will eat and drink with men who are drunk.

⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day the servant is not looking for him. He will not know the time he is coming home.

⁵¹ The master will punish him and lock him in with people who are not true. People there will cry and grind [make a noise with] their teeth.'