The First Seal–The Conqueror
1 Then I saw as the Lamb (Christ) broke one of the sevenseals [of the scroll initiating the judgments], and I heard one of the four living creatures call out as with a voice of thunder, “Come.”
2 I looked, and behold, awhite horse [of victory] whose rider carried abow; and a crown [of victory] was given to him, and he rode forth conquering and to conquer.
The Second Seal–War
3 When He (the Lamb) broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come.”
4 And another, afiery red horse [of bloodshed], came out; and its rider was empowered to take peace from the earth, so that men would slaughter one another; and a great sword [of war and violent death] was given to him.
The Third Seal–Famine
5 When He (the Lamb) broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse [of famine]; and the rider had in his hand a pair of scales (a balance).
6 And I heardsomethinglike a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius (a day’s wages), and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do notdamage the oil and the wine.”
The Fourth Seal–Death
7 When He (the Lamb) broke open the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come.”
8 So I looked, and behold, an ashen (pale greenish gray) horse [like a corpse, representing death and pestilence]; and its rider’s name was Death; and Hades (the realm of the dead) was following with him. They were given authorityandpower over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and withplague (pestilence, disease) and by the wild beasts of the earth.
The Fifth Seal–Martyrs
9 When He (the Lamb) broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained [out of loyalty to Christ].
10 They cried in a loud voice, saying, “O Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood on those [unregenerate ones] who dwell on the earth?”
11 Then they were each given a white robe; and they were told to restandwait quietly for a little while longer, untilthe number oftheir fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed.
The Sixth Seal–Terror
12 I looked when He (the Lamb) broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black assackcloth [made] of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;
13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree shedding its late [summer] figs when shaken by a strong wind.
14 The sky was split [separated from the land] and rolled up like a scroll, and every mountain and island were dislodgedandmoved out of their places.
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and themilitary commanders and the wealthy and the strong and everyone, [whether] slave or free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;
16 and they called 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 [righteous] wrathandindignation of the Lamb;
17 for the great day of their wrathandvengeanceandretribution has come, and who is able to [face God and] stand [before the wrath of the Lamb]?”