1 And when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals I saw it, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as if in a voice of thunder, "Come." 2 And I looked and a white horse appeared, and its rider carried a bow; and a victor's wreath was given to him; and he went out conquering and in order to conquer. 3 And when the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come." 4 And another horse came out--a fiery-red one; and power was given to its rider to take peace from the earth, and to cause men to kill one another; and a great sword was given to him. 5 When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come." I looked, and a black horse appeared, its rider carrying a balance in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice speaking in the midst of the four living creatures, and saying, "A quart of wheat for a shilling, and three quarts of barley for a shilling; but do not injure either the oil or the wine." 7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come." 8 I looked and a pale-colored horse appeared. Its rider's name was Death, and Hades came close behind him; and authority was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword or with famine or pestilence or by means of the wild beasts of the earth. 9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed because of the word of God and of the testimony which they had given. 10 And now in loud voices they cried out, saying, "How long, O Sovereign Lord, the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay judgment and the taking of vengeance upon the inhabitants of the earth for our blood?" 11 And there was given to each of them a long white robe, and they were bidden to wait patiently for a short time longer, until the full number of their fellow bondservants should also complete--namely of their brethren who were soon to be killed just as they had been. 12 When the Lamb broke the sixth seal I looked, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became as dark as sackcloth, and the whole disc of the moon became like blood. 13 The stars in the sky also fell to the earth, as when a fig-tree, upon being shaken by a gale of wind, casts its unripe figs to the ground. 14 The sky too passed away, as if a scroll were being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 The kings of the earth and the great men, the military chiefs, the wealthy and the powerful--all, whether slaves or free men--hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 while they called to the mountains and the rocks, saying, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb; 17 for the day of His anger--that great day--has come, and who is able to stand?" | |