Revelation 5-7
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 5
Vision of the Lamb.[a] 1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I beheld a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 But there was no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth who was able to open the scroll and examine it.
4 I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and examine it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and thus has won the right to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that had been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into the entire world. 7 He came forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne.
8 When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders prostrated themselves before the Lamb. Each of the elders was holding a harp, and they had gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 They sang a new song:[b]
“You are worthy to receive the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
people of every tribe and language, nation and race.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on earth.”
11 In my vision, I heard the voices of a multitude of angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. These angels numbered thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand of them. 12 And they cried out with a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed
to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and praise.”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To the one seated on the throne
and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might
forever and ever.”
14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders prostrated themselves in worship.
Prelude to the End of Times: Israel and the Church[c]
Chapter 6
The First Four Seals and the Horsemen.[d]1 Then, in my vision, I saw the Lamb break open the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures shout in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and before my eyes I saw a white horse, and its rider was holding a bow. He was given a crown, and he rode forth as a victor to amass still further conquests.
3 When he broke open the second seal, I heard the second living creature shout, “Come!” 4 And another horse came forth; it was red. Its rider was empowered to take away peace from the earth so that people would slay each other. He was given a large sword.[e]
5 When he broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature shout, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales[f] in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice emanating from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat costs a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley cost a day’s wages. But do not damage the olive oil or the wine.”
7 When he broke open the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature shout, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades[g] followed close behind. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of wild beasts.
The Fifth Seal: Vision of the Martyrs.[h] 9 When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain on account of the word of God and for witnessing to it. 10 They shouted in a loud voice, “How long is it to be, holy and true Master, before you judge the inhabitants of the earth[i] and avenge our death?”
11 Each of them was given a white robe,[j] and they were instructed to be patient for a little longer until the roll was completed of their fellow servants and brethren who were still to be killed as they themselves had been.
12 The Sixth Seal: the Universe Disturbed.[k] In my vision, when he broke open the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake. The sun turned as black as coarse sackcloth, the moon became as red as blood, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth like unripe figs dislodged from a tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens were torn apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was dislodged from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, and the commanders, the rich and the powerful, and the whole population, both slaves and free, hid themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They shouted to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can endure it?”
Chapter 7
An Immense Crowd before God’s Throne.[l] 1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel rising from the east, bearing the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given the power to ravage the land and the sea, 3 “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we have set the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
4 Then I heard how many had been marked with the seal—one hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of Israel:
5 From the tribe of Judah,[m] twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand.
9 After this, in my vision, I witnessed a vast throng that no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels who were standing around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures, prostrated themselves before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen. Praise and glory,
wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor and power and might,
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders spoke to me and inquired, “Who are these people, all dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?” 14 I replied, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “That is why they stand before the throne of God
and worship him day and night in his temple,
and the one who sits on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will never again experience hunger or thirst,
nor will the sun or any scorching heat cause them discomfort.
17 For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd.
He will guide them to springs of living water,[n]
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Footnotes
- Revelation 5:1 As we have seen, the whole universe sings of the limitless power of the Creator. But he is also the Master of the universe, and the book he holds in his hand represents the destiny of the world. The book is held closed by seven seals, i.e., it contains the totality of the events of history, though in a hidden fashion, which no one can unveil.
However, a mediator of the Revelation does exist. He is the Messiah, who is designated here by the titles foretold of him in the Old Testament: the lion of Judah (see Gen 49:9) to whom victory is promised (see Isa 11:1, 10; see also 2 Sam 7), the Messiah King, shoot of the stock from which David was descended.
It is Christ in the power of his Resurrection who receives the mastery over the destinies of the entire universe. He is represented in his glory after the manner of a Lamb slain but standing (the figure of the Paschal Lamb is the main title for Christ in this Book, used twenty-eight times). This unusual expression is intended to recall Passover, the passover lamb, and the sacrificial Death of Christ for the redemption of the human race, but also to assert that he is ever living and the conqueror of death. The seven horns symbolize an infinite power.
The one with infinite power is the Redeemer who has acquired the people by his Blood. The Creator ratifies this and places in Christ’s hands the succession of events until their fulfillment. Then the angels, the elders, and all the great figures in heaven that can be imagined will each come in turn to render the worship due to the Master of time, and the entire universe unites to acclaim the risen one. Indeed, the coming of Christ is a capital turning point, and a new song is required to celebrate it (see Phil 2). - Revelation 5:9 New song: a song that celebrates a new act of divine deliverance (see Rev 14:3; Pss 33:3; 96:1; 144:9; Isa 42:10). With your blood you purchased for God people: the theme of Christ’s sacrificial Death (see Mk 10:45; 1 Cor 6:20).
- Revelation 6:1 The book of destiny is probably not a scroll in the classical sense. It is a document that is folded and then sealed, folded and sealed, etc., seven times. It resembles a Roman legal document. Thus, as each seal is broken, part of the document becomes legible. When the seventh seal is broken (Rev 8:1), the hour is going to sound; but we are still living in suspense: trumpets will sound, one after another until the seventh one; then the great act will be played out (Rev 11:15).
Nonetheless, the unfurling of the wrath is not described to frighten believers; the author wants to strengthen them, to announce to them that the destiny of the world has been turned around and God’s plan is on the way to being fulfilled. In accord with the perspectives of the prophecies and the Gospel, a Remnant will be saved, the community of Christ and the true People of God (Rev 7). All the chapters that follow seem to interpret the history of the world in the perspective of the destiny reserved for the Jewish people. Yet the end of Jerusalem and its destruction are not the end of history; they are only a turning point (Rev 10:1—11:13)—then the time of the nations can truly begin (Rev 12:1—19:10). - Revelation 6:1 The first secrets are unveiled. Already the images are terrifying. The colors of the horses suffice to create fright. Three horsemen sow war, famine, and pestilence, those great scourges in which the ancients see God’s judgment on proud and indifferent ages and on unjust people (see, e.g., Lev 26:21-26; Deut 32:34; Ezek 5:17; 6:11f; 7:14f; 12:16; 14:13-21; 33:27; Jer 15:2-4; Mt 24:6f). Hades follows in the wake of the last horseman to swallow the victims into its gloomy abode.
There is some doubt about the figure of the first horseman, crowned and mounted on a white horse. Is it Christ, or a false Messiah, or simply another scourge, the well-known scourge of the voracious beasts who decimate travelers? The allegory of the four horses and horsemen who ride out into the four quarters of the world is taken from Zechariah (1:8-10; 6:1-8). - Revelation 6:4 A large sword: symbol of war.
- Revelation 6:5 Scales: symbol of hunger: food is rationed and sold at very high prices. The rider with the scales probably represents social injustice. A day’s wages: literally, “a denarius.”
- Revelation 6:8 Hades: personification of the abode of the dead, i.e., the netherworld (see notes on Rev 1:9-20 and Mt 16:18).
- Revelation 6:9 Persecution is unleashed. The victims, as though immolated in sacrifice, are all reunited around God and already clothed in the garment of joy. This presence of the victims attests that oppression has been lifted on earth. For the people of the Bible possess too great a sense of justice to imagine that such violent injustices as persecutions constitute an indifferent thing in the eyes of God and that they can go unpunished forever. They are like a challenge to God (see Lk 18:7). God must intervene, and bloody persecutions are among the signs of the end (see Mk 13:9-13).
- Revelation 6:10 Inhabitants of the earth: i.e., humankind in its hostility to God (see Rev 3:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 12; 17:2, 8).
- Revelation 6:11 White robe: symbol of the joy and triumph of the Resurrection (see Rev 3:5, 18; 11:10; 13:8, 12; 17:2, 8). Until the roll was completed of their fellow servants and brethren who were still to be killed: there was an apocalyptic idea in the air—sparked by noncanonical literature—that God rules the world according to a predetermined time schedule (see 2 Esdras 4:35-37) and that the death of a certain number of the righteous must occur before the end takes place (see 1 Enoch 47:4).
- Revelation 6:12 The cosmic destruction announces the Day of the Lord (see Isa 34:4; Mk 13:6, 24f). It is an astonishing spectacle that this firmament will be rolled up like a large scroll. The cosmos enters a phase of distortion and convulsion. The threat hangs over everyone; no one escapes the paralyzing fear. The author uses to great advantage many of the images of the Old Testament (see Isa 2:10, 19; 34:4; Hos 10:8; Joel 2:11; 3:4).
- Revelation 7:1 In 587 B.C., on the eve of the destruction of Jerusalem, the survivors were, so to speak, marked to be preserved from the catastrophe (see Ezek 9). The great fear is not for the community of the persecuted. The calamities that will overtake the world will not touch them. Thus, God gathers together his Elect. They may go through the trial of the years A.D. 66 to 70 and finally the history of the world, which is that of the sufferings of the Church. But they will not fall prey to condemnation. This people that is gathered together is first of all the Remnant of Israel. From each of the twelve tribes there will be twelve thousand survivors: this is a symbolic number meaning fullness and perfection. Then the vision is enlarged: the Remnant becomes a multitude without number, gathered together from amid all the nations of the earth. From all sides come forth the martyrs and all those who endured trials: the whole Church. This is a grandiose celebration of happiness and triumph. In a striking foreshortening, the author sketches a tableau of the Church in the grip of tribulations and persecutions, assisted by Christ, her Shepherd, and led toward her heavenly victory, which anticipates the splendid final vision of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:1—22:5).
- Revelation 7:5 Judah is placed first because of Christ, who is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). Manasseh: one of the two halves of the tribe of Joseph that are both cited (the other being Ephraim but called “Joseph” in v. 8)—doubtless in order to make up twelve tribes. Daniel is omitted probably because of a late tradition that the Antichrist was to arise from that tribe.
- Revelation 7:17 Springs of living water: i.e., the grace of God, which flows from Christ (see Rev 21:6; 22:1, 17; Jn 4:10, 14).
