Revelation

The Seals 

I saw the Lamb opening the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures cry out, with a voice like thunder, “Come and see!”

A white horse appeared, and its rider had a bow. He was crowned, and he went out as a conqueror, and he will conquer.

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature cry out, “Come forward!” 

Then, another horse, the color of fire, came out. Its rider was ordered to take peace away from the earth, that people might kill one another; so he was given a great sword.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third creature cry out, “Come forward!” This time, it was a black horse, and its rider held a scale in his hand.

Then, from the midst of the four living creatures, a voice was heard: “A measure of wheat for a piece of silver, and three measures of barley for a piece, as well! Do not spoil the oil or the wine.”

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard a cry from the fourth living creature, “Come forward!” 

A greenish horse appeared, its rider was called Death, and Hades rode behind him. He was allowed to utterly destroy, by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, a fourth of the inhabitants of the earth.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw, under the altar, the souls of those who proclaimed the word of God and were slain for its sake. 

They began to cry aloud, “Holy and righteous Lord, how long will it be before you render justice, and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” 

Then each one of them was given a white garment. They were told to wait a little while, until the number of their brothers and sisters, and fellow servants who would be killed, as they had been, would be completed.

And my vision continued. When the Lamb opened the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake. The sun turned black as a mourning dress, and the entire moon became blood-red, 

and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like dry figs falling from a fig tree shaken by a hurricane. 

The sky was folded up like rolled parchment; no mountain or continent was untouched or unmoved.

The kings of the earth, their ministers, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the people—slaves and free—hid in caves or among rocks, on the mountains, 

saying, “Fall on us, mountains and rocks, and hide us, for we are afraid of the one who sits on the throne, and of the wrath of the Lamb. 

The great day of his wrath has come, and who can endure it?”