The Lamb Opens the Seals
Riders go out one by one: conquest, slaughter, a day's wage for a loaf, then Death. Under the altar the martyrs ask the Sovereign Father how long and are told to wait a little longer. At the sixth seal the powerful hide and beg the rocks to fall.
6 1I watched Jesus, the Lamb, open one of the seven seals, and heard one of the four living creatures say, thunderously, "Come!" 2I looked: a white horse, its rider holding a bow. Given a crown, he rode out conquering, to conquer.
3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4Another fiery red horse came out. Its rider was authorized to take peace from the earth, making people kill each other, and given a great sword.
5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked—a black horse, its rider with a pair of scales in hand. 6Among the four living creatures I heard something like a voice: "A quart of wheat for a day's wage, three quarts of barley for a day's wage—don't harm the oil and wine!"
7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature's voice say, "Come!" 8I saw a pale horse. Its rider was named Death, the grave following him. Death and the grave were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, famine, plague, and the earth's wild beasts.
9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those killed for our Father's word and the testimony they held. 10They shouted, "How long, Sovereign Father, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on earth-dwellers?" a a v10 'Sovereign' is the title the New Testament reserves for our Father's supreme authority — the martyrs appeal to him as the one who holds all power to set things right. 11Each was given a white robe, told to rest a little longer, until their fellow servants and brothers and sisters, to be killed as they were, were complete in number.
12I watched the Lamb open the sixth seal: a great earthquake struck, sun black as coarse haircloth, full moon like blood, 13and heaven's stars fell to earth, like unripe figs a fig tree drops when shaken by strong wind. 14The sky rolled back like a scroll, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15Earth's kings, nobles, generals, rich, strong, every slave and free, hid in caves and mountain rocks. 16They said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, hide us from the face of God seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of God's and the Lamb's wrath has come, and who can withstand it?"
