Chronological

6 Then I watched while the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living things speak with a voice like thunder. It said, “Come!” ² I looked and there before me was a white horse. The rider on the horse held a bow, and he was given a crown. And he rode out, defeating the enemy. He rode out to win the victory.

³ The Lamb opened the second seal. Then I heard the second living thing say, “Come!” ⁴ Then another horse came out. This was a red horse. Its rider was given power to take away peace from the earth. He was given power to make people kill each other. And he was given a big sword.

⁵ The Lamb opened the third seal. Then I heard the third living thing say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Then I heard something that sounded like a voice. It came from where the four living things were. The voice said, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay. And three quarts of barley for a day’s pay. And do not damage the olive oil and wine!”

⁷ The Lamb opened the fourth seal. Then I heard the voice of the fourth living thing say, “Come!” ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death. Hades^[a] was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth. They were given power to kill people by war, by starving them, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.

⁹ The Lamb opened the fifth seal. Then I saw some souls under the altar. They were the souls of those who had been killed because they were faithful to God’s message and to the truth they had received. ¹⁰ These souls shouted in a loud voice, “Holy and true Lord, how long until you judge the people of the earth and punish them for killing us?” ¹¹ Then each one of these souls was given a white robe. They were told to wait a short time longer. There were still some of their brothers in the service of Christ who must be killed as they were. They were told to wait until all of this killing was finished.

¹² Then I watched while the Lamb opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun became black like rough black cloth. The full moon became red like blood. ¹³ The stars in the sky fell to the earth like figs falling from a fig tree when the wind blows. ¹⁴ The sky disappeared. It was rolled up like a scroll. And every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹⁵ Then all people hid in caves and behind the rocks on the mountains. There were the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the rich people and the powerful people. Everyone, slave and free, hid himself. 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. Hide us from the anger of the Lamb! ¹⁷ The great day for their anger has come. Who can stand against it?”

The 144,000 People of Israel

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. The angels were holding the four winds of the earth. They were stopping the wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming from the east. This angel had the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels. These were the four angels that God had given power to harm the earth and the sea. He said to the four angels, ³ “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees before we put the sign on the people who serve our God. We must put the sign on their foreheads.” ⁴ Then I heard how many people were marked with the sign. There were 144,000. They were from every tribe of the people of Israel.

The Great Crowd

⁹ Then I looked, and there was a great number of people. There were so many people that no one could count them. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language of the earth. They were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and had palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They were shouting in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ¹¹ The elders^[b] and the four living things were there. All the angels were standing around them and the throne. The angels bowed down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. ¹² They were saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes? Where did they come from?”

¹⁴ I answered, “You know who they are, sir.”

And the elder said, “These are the people who have come out of the great suffering. They have washed their robes^[c] with the blood of the Lamb. Now they are clean and white. ¹⁵ And they are before the throne of God. They worship God day and night in his temple. And the One who sits on the throne will protect them. ¹⁶ Those people will never be hungry again. They will never be thirsty again. The sun will not hurt them. No heat will burn them. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of water that give life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The Seventh Seal

8 The Lamb opened the seventh seal. Then there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God. They were given seven trumpets.

³ Another angel came and stood at the altar. This angel had a golden pan for incense. The angel was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God’s holy people. The angel put this offering on the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ The smoke from the incense went up from the angel’s hand to God. It went up with the prayers of God’s people. ⁵ Then the angel filled the incense pan with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. There were flashes of lightning, thunder and loud noises, and an earthquake.

The Seven Angels and Trumpets

⁶ Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet. Then hail and fire mixed with blood was poured down on the earth. And a third of the earth and all the green grass and a third of the trees were burned up.

⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet. Then something that looked like a big mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood. ⁹ And a third of the living things in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel blew his trumpet. Then a large star, burning like a torch, fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood.^[d] And a third of all the water became bitter. Many people died from drinking the water that was bitter.

¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet. Then a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were hit. So a third of them became dark. A third of the day was without light.

¹³ While I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying high in the air. The eagle said with a loud voice, “Trouble! Trouble! Trouble for those who live on the earth! The trouble will begin with the sounds of the trumpets that the other three angels are about to blow.”

9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. And I saw a star fall from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the deep hole that leads down to the bottomless pit. ² Then it opened the bottomless pit. Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace. The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole. ³ Then locusts came down to the earth out of the smoke. They were given the power to sting like scorpions.^{[e] 4} They were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or tree. They could harm only the people who did not have the sign of God on their foreheads. ⁵ These locusts were given the power to cause pain to the people for five months. But they were not given the power to kill anyone. And the pain they felt was like the pain that a scorpion gives when it stings a person. ⁶ During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it. They will want to die, but death will run away from them.

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore things that looked like crowns of gold. Their faces looked like human faces. ⁸ Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ Their chests looked like iron breastplates. The sound their wings made was like the noise of many horses and chariots hurrying into battle. ¹⁰ The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions. The power they had to hurt people for five months was in their tails. ¹¹ The locusts had a king who was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in the Hebrew language is Abaddon. In the Greek language his name is Apollyon.^[f]

¹² The first great trouble is past. There are still two other great troubles that will come.

¹³ The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God. ¹⁴ The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ These four angels had been kept ready for this hour and day and month and year. They were freed to kill a third of all people on the earth. ¹⁶ I heard how many troops on horses were in their army. There were 200,000,000.

¹⁷ In my vision I saw the horses and their riders. They looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions. The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁸ A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three terrible things coming out of the horses’ mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. ¹⁹ The horses’ power was in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails were like snakes that have heads to bite and hurt people.

²⁰ The other people on the earth were not killed by these terrible things. But they still did not change their hearts and turn away from what they had made with their own hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹ These people did not change their hearts and turn away from murder or evil magic, from their sexual immorality or stealing.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud and had a rainbow around his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like poles of fire. ² The angel was holding a small scroll open in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. ³ He shouted loudly like the roaring of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of seven thunders spoke. ⁴ The seven thunders spoke, and I started to write. But then I heard a voice from heaven. The voice said, “Do not write what the seven thunders said. Keep these things secret.”

⁵ Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ He made a promise by the power of the One who lives forever and ever. He is the One who made the skies and all that is in them. He made the earth and all that is in it, and he made the sea and all that is in it. The angel said, “There will be no more waiting! ⁷ In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, God’s secret plan will be finished. This plan is the Good News God told to his servants, the prophets.”

⁸ Then I heard the same voice from heaven again. The voice said to me, “Go and take the open scroll that is in the angel’s hand. This is the angel that is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will be sour in your stomach. But in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ So I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and I ate it. In my mouth it tasted sweet as honey. But after I ate it, it was sour in my stomach. ¹¹ Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

The Two Witnesses

11 Then I was given a measuring stick like a rod. I was told, “Go and measure the temple^[g] of God and the altar, and count the number of people worshiping there. ² But do not measure the yard outside the temple. Leave it alone. It has been given to the people who are not Jews. They will walk on the holy city for 42 months. ³ And I will give power to my two witnesses to prophesy for 1,260 days. They will be dressed in rough cloth to show how sad they are.”

⁴ These two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to hurt the witnesses, fire comes from their mouths and kills their enemies. Anyone who tries to hurt them will die like this. ⁶ These witnesses have the power to stop the sky from raining during the time they are prophesying. They have power to make the waters become blood. They have power to send every kind of trouble to the earth. They can do this as many times as they want.

⁷ When the two witnesses have finished telling their message, the beast will fight against them. This is the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit. He will defeat them and kill them. ⁸ The bodies of the two witnesses will lie in the street of the great city. This city is named Sodom^[h] and Egypt. These names for the city have a special meaning. It is the city where the Lord was killed. ⁹ Men from every race of people, tribe, language, and nation will look at the bodies of the two witnesses for three and a half days. They will refuse to bury them. ¹⁰ People who live on the earth will be happy because these two are dead. They will have parties and send each other gifts. They will do these things because these two prophets brought much suffering to those who live on the earth.

¹¹ But after three and a half days, God put the breath of life into the two prophets again. They stood on their feet. Everyone who saw them was filled with fear. ¹² Then the two prophets heard a loud voice from heaven say, “Come up here!” And they went up into heaven in a cloud. Their enemies watched them go.

¹³ At that same time there was a great earthquake. A tenth of the city was destroyed. And 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake. Those who did not die were very afraid. They gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second great trouble is finished. The third great trouble is coming soon.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And there were loud voices in heaven. The voices said:

¹⁶ Then the 24 elders^[i] bowed down on their faces and worshiped God. These are the elders who sit on their thrones before God. ¹⁷ They said:

¹⁹ Then God’s temple^[j] in heaven was opened. The Ark of the Covenant that holds the agreement that God gave to his people could be seen in his temple. Then there were flashes of lightning, noises, thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.