Then I [John] was given a stick like a measuring stick. I was told, “Stand up and measure the temple of God and the altar. Count those who worship there. But do not measure the temple courtyard. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. I will allow my two witnesses who wear sackcloth to speak what God has revealed. They will speak for 1,260 days.”

I [John] took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it was bitter in my stomach. 

      The seven thunders told me, “Again you must speak what God has revealed in front of many people, nations, languages, and kings.”

The angel whom I [John] saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.  He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. 

     He said, “There will be no more delay.  In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed, as he had made this Good News known to his servants, the prophets.” 

           The voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again. It said, “Take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”  I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

I [John] saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet were like columns of fire. 

       He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Then he shouted in a loud voice as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke with voices of their own. When the seven thunders spoke, I was going to write it down. I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.”

When the sixth angel blew his trumpet, I [John]  heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar in front of God. The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River.”  The four angels who were ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill 1/3 of humanity.  

       The soldiers on horses numbered 20,000 times 10,000. I heard how many there were. The horses and their riders looked like this:      The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, pale blue, and yellow. 

   The horses had heads like lions. 

   Fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.  

       These three plagues—the fire, smoke, and sulfur which came out of their mouths—killed 1/3 of humanity.  The power of these horses is in their mouths and their tails. (Their tails have heads like snakes which they use to hurt people.)
 

       The people who survived these plagues still did not turn to me and change the way they were thinking and acting. If they had, they would have stopped worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.           

       They did not turn away from committing murder, practicing witchcraft, fornications, or stealing.

When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I [John] saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The smoke darkened the sun and the air. 

      Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like the power of earthly scorpions. They were told not to harm any grass, green plant, or tree on the earth. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them. They were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion’s sting.  At that time people will look for death and never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.

             The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They seemed to have crowns that looked like gold on their heads. Their faces were like human faces.  They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like lions’ teeth.  They had breastplates like iron. The noise from their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. They had tails and stingers like scorpions. They had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months.  The king who ruled them was the angel from the bottomless pit. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

The first catastrophe is over. After these things there are two more catastrophes yet to come.

I [John] saw an eagle flying overhead, and I heard it say in a loud voice, 

    “Catastrophe, catastrophe, catastrophe 

         for those living on earth, because of 

            the remaining trumpet blasts 

which the three angels are about to blow.”

When the fourth angel blew his trumpet,  

1/3 of the sun, 

1/3 of the moon, and 

1/3 of the stars were struck so that 

1/3 of them turned dark. 

There was no light for 
1/3 of the day and 1/3 of the night.

When the third angel blew his trumpet, a huge star flaming like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on 1/3 of the rivers and on the springs.

      That star was named Wormwood, 1/3 of the water turned into wormwood, and many people died from this water because it had turned bitter.

When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. 

1/3 of the sea turned into blood,  

1/3 of the creatures that were living in the sea died, and 
1/3 of the ships were destroyed.

When the first angel blew his trumpet, 
hail and fire were mixed with blood, 
and were thrown on the earth. 
One-third of the earth was burned up, 
one-third of the trees were burned up, 
and all the green grass was burned up.

Then I [John] saw the seven angels who stand in God’s presence, and they were given seven trumpets.  Another angel came with a gold incense burner and stood at the altar. He was given a lot of incense to offer on the gold altar in front of the throne. He offered it with the prayers of all of God’s people.  The smoke from the incense went up from the angel’s hand to God along with the prayers of God’s people.  The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. Then there was thunder, noise, lightning, and an earthquake.

         The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them.

The lamb in the center near the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs filled with the water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

        When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

One of the leaders asked me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

     I [John] answered him, “Sir, you know.”

    Then he told me,

          “These are the people who are coming out of the terrible suffering. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
     That is why they are in front of the throne of God.
     They serve him day and night in his temple.

     The one who sits on the throne will spread his tent 

              over them.

      They will never be hungry or thirsty again.
           Neither the sun nor any burning heat will ever 

              overcome them.

All the angels stood around the throne with the leaders and the four living creatures. They bowed in front of the throne with their faces touching the ground, worshiped God,  and said,
           “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

After these things I saw a large crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language. No one was able to count how many people there were.

They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb. They were wearing white robes, holding palm branches in their hands, and crying out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!”

I heard how many were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of the people of Israel: 

12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

After this I [John] saw

four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land, the sea, or any tree. 

       I saw another angel coming from the east with the seal of the living God. 

           He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been allowed to harm the land and sea,  “Don’t harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

I [John] watched as the lamb opened the sixth seal. A powerful earthquake struck. The sun turned as black as sackcloth made of hair. The full moon turned as red as blood.  The stars fell from the sky to the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when it is shaken by a strong wind.

 The sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up. 

Every mountain and island was moved from its place. 

        Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people hid themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains. They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the lamb, because the frightening day of their anger has come, and who is able to endure it?”

When the lamb opened the fifth seal,

I [John] saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of God’s word and the testimony they had given about him.  

       They cried out in a loud voice, “Holy and true Master, how long before you judge and take revenge on those living on earth who shed our blood?”  

            Each of the souls was given a white robe. They were told to rest a little longer until all their coworkers, the other Christians, would be killed as they had been killed.