Beginning

John’s Vision of God

4 After these things I looked, and there was a door opened in heaven! And the first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.” ² Immediately I was in spirit. And look! A throne was standing in heaven, and someone was sitting on the throne. ³ The one who was sitting there looked like a jasper stone and a ruby.^[a] Around the throne there was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.

⁴ Also around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and sitting on those thrones were twenty-four elders dressed in white garments, with gold crowns on their heads. ⁵ Out of the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and crashes of thunder. In front of the throne seven flaming lamps were burning, which are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne was something resembling a glassy sea, which was like crystal.

In the middle, near the throne and around the throne, there were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each one of the four living creatures had six wings, and the wings were full of eyes all around and underneath.^[b] Day and night, without pause, they keep saying:

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders bow down before him who sits on the throne. They worship the one who lives forever and ever and lay down their crowns in front of his throne as they say:

The Scroll With Seven Seals

5 And I saw a scroll in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, with writing on the front^[c] and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll by breaking its seals?” ³ No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁴ And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed and is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Worthy Is the Lamb

⁶ And I saw a Lamb standing in the center, near the throne, surrounded by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. The Lamb seemed to have been slain, and he had seven horns and seven eyes (these are the seven spirits of God that have been sent into all the world). ⁷ The Lamb came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. ⁸ And when the Lamb took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bowed down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls full of incense (these are the prayers of the saints). ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:

¹¹ And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels who were around the throne and around the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands upon thousands. ¹² With a loud voice they were saying:

¹³ I also heard every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

¹⁴ The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders bowed down and worshipped.

The Vision of the Seven Seals: The First Four Seals

6 And I watched when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. And I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come.”^[f]

² And I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider held a bow. A crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

³ When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come.”^{[g] 4} And another horse, a fiery red one, went out. Its rider was given power to take peace away from the earth so that people would slaughter one another. And a great sword was given to him.

⁵ When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come.”^[h] And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider had a scale in his hand. ⁶ And I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures say, “A quart^[i] of wheat for a denarius,^[j] and three quarts^[k] of barley for a denarius. And do not dilute^[l] the oil and the wine.”

⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come.”^{[m] 8} And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. And its rider was named Death, and the Grave^[n] followed closely behind him. They were given power over a quarter of the earth, to kill people with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth.

The Fifth Seal: The Souls Under the Altar

⁹ When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, under the incense altar I saw the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰ And they called out with a loud voice, saying, “O Lord, holy and true, how long until you judge and exact justice for our blood from those who live on the earth?” ¹¹ A white robe was given to each one of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until their number would be complete, when their fellow servants and their brothers^[o] would be put to death as they were.

The Sixth Seal: The Last Judgment

¹² And I watched when the Lamb opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair. The entire moon became like blood. ¹³ The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when it is shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The sky was removed like a scroll being rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹⁵ The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military leaders, the rich, the powerful, and everyone—slave or free—hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ And they kept saying 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 wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ for the great day of their^[p] wrath has come. Who is able to stand?”

The Church on Earth

7 After this I saw four angels, who stood at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that the wind could not blow on the earth, the sea, or any tree.

² And I saw another angel coming up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He called out with a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to harm the earth and the sea. He said, ³ “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have placed a seal on the foreheads of God’s servants.”

⁴ And I heard the number of those sealed:

144,000 sealed from all the tribes of the people of Israel:

The Church in Heaven

⁹ After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They called out with a loud voice and said:

¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, ¹² saying:

¹³ One of the elders spoke to me and said, “These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?”

And I answered him, “Sir, you know.”

¹⁴ And he said to me:

The Seventh Seal: Seven Angels With Seven Trumpets

8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

³ Another angel, holding a gold censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer together with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar that was in front of the throne. ⁴ And the smoke of the incense went up from the hand of the angel before God, together with the prayers of the saints.

⁵ The angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. Then there came crashes of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The First Four Trumpets

⁶ The seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared to sound them. ⁷ The first sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, and^[q] a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

⁸ Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, ⁹ a third of the creatures that live in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a huge star, blazing like a lamp, fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star was Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood.^[r] Many of the people died from these waters because they had been made bitter.

¹² Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, as well as a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them became dark. And there was no light for a third of the day and likewise for the night.

¹³ Then I looked and I heard a single eagle^[s] flying in the middle of the sky, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those whose home is on the earth because of the remaining trumpet blasts of the three angels who are about to sound their trumpets.”