6
The Lamb opens the seals
The first seal
1 And I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living beings saying, like a voice of thunder, “Come!”* 2 And I looked and, wow, a white horse!† And he who sat on it had a bow. And a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, that is, in order to conquer.
The second seal
3 And when He opened the second seal I heard the second living being saying, “Come!”‡ 4 And another horse went out, fiery red, and it was granted to him who sat on it to take the peace from the earth, so that they would slaughter each other; also, a huge sword was given to him.
The third seal
5 And when He opened the third seal I heard the third living being saying, “Come!” And I looked and, wow, a black horse! And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living beings saying: “A ‘quart’ of wheat for a denarius§ and three ‘quarts’ of barley for a denarius; but do not harm the olive oil and the wine.”*
The fourth seal
7 And when He opened the fourth seal I heard a voice from the fourth living being saying, “Come!” 8 And I looked and, wow, a sickly pale horse! And as for the one sitting upon it, his name is Death, and Hades follows with him.† And authority was given to him‡ over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword and by famine and by death, also by the wild animals of the earth.§
The fifth seal
9 And when He opened the fifth seal I saw underneath the altar the souls of the people who had been slaughtered on account of the Word of God and on account of the testimony of the Lamb which they held.* 10 And they cried out with a loud voice saying: “How long, O Sovereign, Holy and True, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 So a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told that they should rest a while longer, until both their fellow slaves and their brothers,† who were about to be killed just like they were, should complete the number.
The sixth seal
12 And I saw, just when He opened the sixth seal—there was a severe earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth,‡ like a fig tree drops its late figs when shaken by a strong wind. 14 And the sky was split, like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.§
15 And the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the mighty, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.* 16 And they said to 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! 17 Because the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”†
* 6:1 The evidence is badly divided here, but I take it that two of the three main independent lines of transmission, including the best one, read as I have translated. The “Come!” was directed to the horse, not to John (since he was right there, there would be no need to address him with a thunderous roar). The same comment applies in verses 5 and 7. † 6:2 You had better believe that that was some horse! ‡ 6:3 Over 80% of the Greek manuscripts do not have “and see”, as in KJV. Each of the living beings called out a horse, saying to it, “Come!” § 6:6 A denarius was the daily wage for manual labor. To work a full day for a quart of wheat means bare survival. * 6:6 Perhaps the oil and wine are spared for their medicinal value. † 6:8 The Text does not say that Hades was on a horse. John is stating a fact of human existence: Hades follows death—so it has been for 6,000 years. ‡ 6:8 Less than 30% of the Greek manuscripts read ‘them’ for “him”, but they are followed by most (if not all) versions in English. However, it is Death that does the killing; Hades just collects the dead. The 70% are doubtless correct (involving two of the three main independent lines of transmission, including the best one). § 6:8 ‘The four horsemen of the Apocalypse’ have received quite a bit of press, off and on, but they are just the opening gambit. The really heavy stuff comes later. * 6:9 These “souls” have evidently not yet been reunited with their bodies, which means that they have not participated in any resurrection, including the Rapture (see 3:10, 4:1 and 5:9). See notes at 7:13-14. “Of the people” excludes animals, that also have souls. † 6:11 “Slaves” and “brothers” evidently refer to two distinct categories of people, but I don't know the explanation (unless ‘slaves’ refers to Israel, see 7:3 below and Galatians 4:25, in which case ‘brothers’ would refer to the Church). ‡ 6:13 I suppose this refers to fallen angels, since a single literal star would obliterate our planet. § 6:14 Now it starts to get heavy! I have never been in a serious earthquake, but a former colleague was, and the trauma was so severe that years later he still had trouble talking about it. * 6:15 The wrath of God is a great leveler; the social classes all of a sudden do not make much difference—they are all trying to hide. † 6:17 Note that it is the Lamb's wrath—those who reject His sacrifice can look for wrath. Notice that there is no hint of repentance from the people.