The Throne and the Lamb

¹After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet  said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

²Immediately I was in the Spirit,  and there was a throne in heaven  and someone was seated on it. ³The one seated  there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone.  A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne. 

⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders  dressed in white clothes,  with golden crowns on their heads. 

⁵Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne.  Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.  ⁶Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. 

Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side. ⁷The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.  ⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings;  they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night  they never stop,  saying,

Holy, holy, holy,

Lord God, the Almighty,

who was, who is, and who is to come. 

⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever,  ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne  and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say,

¹¹Our Lord and God, 

you are worthy  to receive

glory and honor and power, 

because you have created all things, 

and by your will

they exist and were created.

¹Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.  ²I also saw a mighty angel  proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? ” ³But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. ⁴I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open  the scroll or even to look in it. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah,  the Root of David,  has conquered  so that he is able to open the scroll and  its seven seals.”

⁶Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb  standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God  sent into all the earth. ⁷He went and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne.

⁸When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp  and golden bowls  filled with incense,  which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹And they sang a new song: 

You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slaughtered,

and you purchased  people 

for God by your blood

from every tribe and language

and people and nation. 

¹⁰You made them a kingdom 

and priests to our God, 

and they will reign on the earth.

¹¹Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands.  ¹²They said with a loud voice,

Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered

to receive power and riches

and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and blessing!

¹³I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth,  on the sea, and everything in them say, 

Blessing and honor and glory and power

be to the one seated on the throne,

and to the Lamb, forever and ever!

¹⁴The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

¹¹Our Lord and God, 

you are worthy  to receive

glory and honor and power, 

because you have created all things, 

and by your will

they exist and were created.