Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

The lion, the lamb

5 I saw that there was a scroll in the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. The scroll was written on the inside and the outside, and it was sealed with seven seals. ² I saw a strong angel announcing in a loud voice, “Does anybody deserve to open the scroll, to undo its seals?” ³ And nobody in heaven or on the earth or under the earth could open the scroll or look at it. ⁴ I burst into tears because it seemed that there was nobody who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside it. ⁵ One of the elders, however, spoke to me. “Don’t cry,” he said. “Look! The lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the victory! He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb. It was standing there as though it had been slaughtered; it had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ The lamb came up and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne.

Worthy is the lamb!

⁸ When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down in front of the lamb. They each had a harp, and they each had golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s holy people. ⁹ They sing a new song, which goes like this:

¹¹ As I watched, I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, ¹² and they were declaring in full voice,

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and in the sea, and everything that is in them, saying,

¹⁴ “Amen!” cried the four living creatures. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Four horsemen

6 The next thing I saw was this. When the lamb had opened one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” ² And, as I watched, there was a white horse. Its rider was holding a bow. He was given a crown, and he went off winning victories, and to win more of them.

³ When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ And another horse went out, fiery red this time. Its rider was given permission to take peace away from the earth, so that people would kill one another. He was given a great sword.

⁵ When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” As I watched, there was a black horse. Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ I heard something like a voice coming from the midst of the four living creatures. “A quart of wheat for a dinar!” said the voice. “And three quarts of barley for a dinar! But don’t ruin the oil and the wine!”

⁷ When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ As I looked, there was a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death. Hades followed along behind him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with death, and by means of the earth’s wild animals.

The day is coming!

⁹ When the lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the word of God and because of the witness which they had borne. ¹⁰ They shouted at the tops of their voices. “Holy and true Master!” they called. “How much longer are you going to put off giving judgment, and avenging our blood on the earth-dwellers?” ¹¹ Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest for a little while yet, until the full number of those to be killed, as they had been, was reached—including both their fellow-servants and their kinsfolk.

¹² As I looked, he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake, the sun turned black like sackcloth, the whole moon became like blood, ¹³ and the stars were falling from heaven onto the earth as when a fig tree, shaken by a strong wind, drops its late fruit. ¹⁴ The heaven disappeared like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. ¹⁵ The kings of the earth, the leading courtiers, the generals, the rich, the power-brokers, and everyone, slave and free, all hid themselves among the caves and rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ “Fall upon us!” they were saying to the mountains and the rocks. “Hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne, and from the anger of the lamb! ¹⁷ The great day of their anger has come, and who can stand upright?”