5
The Lamb takes the scroll
1 And I saw upon the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll, written inside and outside, sealed with seven seals.* 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. 4 And I began to really weep, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.
5 So one of the elders says to me: “Stop weeping! Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living beings, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing†—as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which‡ are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And He went and took it out of the right hand of the One sitting on the throne!
A new song
8 And when He took the scroll the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having harps and golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.§ 9 And they sing a new song saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals;
because You were slaughtered,
and have redeemed us* to God by your blood
out of every tribe and language
and people and ethnic nation;
10 and You have made them† kings and priests to our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
All the angels
11 And I looked, and I heard as it were the voice of many angels, around the throne and the living beings and the elders. And their number was ten thousand times ten thousand and a thousand thousands,‡ 12 saying with a great voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered
to receive the power and wealth
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing!”§
Every creature
13 And every creature which is in the heaven and upon the earth and under the earth, and upon the sea (the existing places and the creatures in them)—I heard them all* saying: “To Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb: the blessing and the honor and the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen!!” 14 (It was the four living beings saying the “Amen”.) And the elders fell and did obeisance.†
* 5:1 Again, how did John know that the scroll was written on both sides if it was closed? And where were the seals, all on the outside? It appears that the scroll also was not solid, or else John had laser vision. † 5:6 The Lamb is a Lion; the Lion is a Lamb. I would say that the Lamb characterizes Christ in His first advent to this earth, while the Lion characterizes His second advent. ‡ 5:6 In about ¾ of the Greek manuscripts, including the best group, the gender of this relative pronoun agrees with “horns” (neuter) and not “eyes” (masculine). Perhaps the spirits were represented by both the horns and the eyes, possibly referring to power and knowledge. § 5:8 They all fell down, but I gather that it was the elders who had harps and bowls and sang the new song (the four are saying “Holy, holy” all the time). * 5:9 Every Greek manuscript except one, of inferior quality, reads “us”. Many modern versions follow that lone manuscript and omit the pronoun, but that leaves the transitive verb “redeem” without a direct object, so they usually supply “men” or some such thing. But the true reading is obviously “us”, so the 24 elders are among the redeemed, and they are already in heaven wearing crowns. † 5:10 A very few late Greek manuscripts read ‘us’, as in KJV, but almost all the manuscripts read “them”. The 24 elders exclude themselves when it comes to reigning on the earth—evidently they will not be involved in the administration of the Messianic Millennial Kingdom. ‡ 5:11 10,000 x 10,000 = 100,000,000, so the good angels are over 100 million. If we understand correctly from Revelation 12:4 that a third of the original angels followed Lucifer in his rebellion, that means that there are some 50 million demons out there. Good grief! § 5:12 A list of seven; what else could we add? * 5:13 “Every creature” presumably must include more than men and angels; I take it that all mammals, at least (they have soul), including those in the sea (dolphins, whales), and quite possibly birds (eagles) will participate. † 5:14 The living beings and the elders were prostrating themselves and getting up repeatedly.