Four Winds Held Back
Before the harm goes further, four angels hold back the winds while our Father's servants are sealed. Then a crowd too large to count, from every language, out of great suffering. An elder explains them: never hungry again, and every tear wiped away.
7 1After this I saw four angels standing at earth's four corners, holding its four winds so none would blow on land, sea, or any tree. 2Then I saw another angel rising from the east with the seal of our living Father. He shouted to the four angels given power to harm the earth and the sea, 3saying, "Don't harm the earth, sea, or trees until we've sealed our Father's servants on their foreheads." 4I heard the number of the sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. a a v4 The number 144,000 — twelve thousand from each of twelve tribes — is a symbol of completeness, picturing the full people of our Father, not a literal head count. 5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000 were sealed.
A Multitude No One Could Count
9After this I saw a huge crowd no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, in white robes, palm branches in hand. 10They cried out loudly, "Salvation belongs to our Father, seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
11All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures, then fell facedown before the throne and worshiped our Father, 12saying, "Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and might to our Father forever and ever! Amen."
13Then one of the elders asked me, "These dressed in white robes—who are they, and where have they come from?"
14I said, "My lord, you know." He said, "These come from the great tribulation; they washed their robes and whitened them in the Lamb's blood."
15That's why they are before our Father's throne, serving him day and night in his temple; the one on the throne will shelter them. 16They will hunger no more and thirst no more; the sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. 17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will shepherd them, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and our Father will wipe away every tear from their eyes. b b v17 Our Father himself — not an angel, not a servant — wipes the tears from his children's eyes.
