The Scroll and the Lamb

“At once I was in the Spirit. There in heaven stood a throne, and someone was sitting on the throne. He looked like a jasper stone and a sardius, two kinds of precious stone. There was a rainbow around the throne, and it looked like an emerald.

“Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. Twenty-four elders sat on them, dressed in white clothes, with crowns of gold on their heads.

“Flashes of lightning, sounds and thunder come out of the throne. Seven lamps of fire were burning in front of the throne. They are the seven Spirits of God.

“In front of the throne was something that looked like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around it, were four living creatures, full of eyes, front and back. The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third had a face like a man’s, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.

“I saw a mighty angel calling out loudly, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll, and to break its seals?’ There was no one in heaven above, or on the earth, or under the earth, who could open the scroll or look in it.

“I wept and wept, because no one had been found worthy to open the scroll or look in it.

“One of the elders said to me, ‘Don’t weep. Look, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome. He is the one who opens the scroll and its seven seals.’

“Then I saw a Lamb in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders. It was standing, looking as though it had been killed, and having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

“The Lamb came, and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Then the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

“The four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ Then the elders fell down and worshiped.”

“When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come!’ Another horse came out, a red one. The one who rode it was given power to take peace from the earth, so people would kill one another. He was given a great sword.

“When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, ‘Come and see!’ And there was a black horse, and the one who rode it had a set of scales in his hand. I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, ‘A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!’ A choenix is a little more than a quart.

“When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see!’ And there was a pale horse. The name of the one who rode it was Death, and Hades followed along with him. He was given authority over one fourth of the earth, authority to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth.”

“They cried out with a loud voice, ‘How long, Master, you who are holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who live on the earth?’

“Each of them was given a long white robe. They were told to rest a little longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who would also be killed as they had been, had finished their course.

“I saw him open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun went black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree shaken by a great wind, dropping its unripe figs. The sky was taken away like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

“The kings of the earth, the princes and the commanders, the rich and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told 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! The great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

“I saw another angel rise from the sunrise, holding the seal of the living God. With a loud voice he called to the four angels, the ones who had been given the power to harm the earth and the sea. He said, ‘Don’t harm the earth, the sea or the trees until we have sealed our God’s servants on their foreheads!’

“I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the Israelites. Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from Reuben, twelve thousand from Gad, twelve thousand from Asher, twelve thousand from Naphtali, twelve thousand from Manasseh, twelve thousand from Simeon, twelve thousand from Levi, twelve thousand from Issachar, twelve thousand from Zebulun, twelve thousand from Joseph, and from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.”

“Then one of the elders spoke to me. ‘These people dressed in the white robes,’ he said, ‘who are they, and where did they come from?’

“I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’

“He said to me, ‘These are the ones who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. That is why they are in front of the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

“‘They will never be hungry or thirsty again. Neither the sun nor any heat will beat down on them. That is because the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

“Another angel came and stood over the altar, holding a golden censer. He was given a great deal of incense to add to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar, which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense rose from the angel’s hand and went up before God, with the prayers of the saints.

“The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, then threw it on the earth. Thunder, sounds, lightning and an earthquake followed.

“The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to sound them. The first angel blew his trumpet. Then hail and fire followed, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth burned up, and one third of the trees, and all the green grass.

“The second angel blew his trumpet. Something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood. One third of the living things in the sea died, and one third of the ships were destroyed.

“The third angel blew his trumpet. A great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of water. The star’s name is Wormwood. One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because the waters had been made bitter.

“The fourth angel blew his trumpet. One third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars, so that one third of them would go dark. For one third of the day there would be no light, and the same for the night.

“I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in the middle of the sky, calling out loudly, ‘Woe! Woe! Woe to the people living on the earth, because of the other trumpet blasts of the three angels who have yet to sound!’”

“Then locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power, the kind of power the scorpions of the earth have. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, or anything green, or any tree, but only the people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads.

“They were given power to torment those people for five months, but not to kill them. Their torment was like the pain a scorpion gives when it strikes a person. In those days people will look for death, and will never find it. They will want to die, and death will run away from them.

“The locusts were shaped like horses made ready for war. On their heads they had something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people’s faces. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots and horses rushing to war. They have tails like those of scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails they have power to harm people for five months.

“Their king is the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, a word that means ruin, destruction, or the place of destruction. In Greek his name is Apollyon, which means Destroyer. The first woe is past. Look, two more woes are still coming after this.”

“The four angels were set free. They had been made ready for that hour and day and month and year, to kill one third of mankind. The armies of horsemen numbered two hundred million. I heard how many there were.

“Here is how the horses and those who sat on them looked to me in the vision: they had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow, and the horses’ heads looked like lions’ heads. Fire, smoke and sulfur come out of their mouths.

“These three plagues killed one third of mankind: the fire, the smoke and the sulfur which came out of their mouths. The horses’ power is in their mouths, and in their tails too, because their tails are like snakes and have heads, and they do harm with them.

“The rest of mankind, those who were not killed by these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands. They didn’t turn away from worshiping demons, and idols of gold, of silver, of brass, of stone and of wood, which can’t see or hear or walk. They didn’t repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual sins or their stealing.”