1
Then I saw as the Lamb (Christ) broke one of the seven [1]seals [of the scroll initiating the judgments], and I heard one of the four living creatures call out as with a voice of thunder, "[2]Come."
2
I looked, and behold, a [3]white horse [of victory] whose rider carried a [4]bow; and a crown [of victory] was given to him, and he rode forth conquering and to conquer.
3
When He (the Lamb) broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, "Come."
4
And another, a [5]fiery 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.
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 heard something like 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 not [6]damage the oil and the wine."
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 authority and power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with [7]plague (pestilence, disease) and by the wild beasts of the earth.
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 rest and wait quietly for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed.
12
I looked when He (the Lamb) broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as [8]sackcloth [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 dislodged and moved out of their places.
15
Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the [9]military 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] wrath and indignation of the Lamb;
17
for the great day of their wrath and vengeance and retribution has come, and who is able to [face God and] stand [before the wrath of the Lamb]?"