Revelation 7

The sealed of Israel

¹After this I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.^•²And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea,^•³saying: Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.^•

⁴And I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, from every tribe of the sons of Israel:⁵from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;^•⁶from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;⁷from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand;⁸from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand sealed.

The great multitude

⁹After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and with palm branches in their hands;^•¹⁰and they cry out with a loud voice, saying:^•

Salvation to our God, who is seated on the throne,^•and to the Lamb.^•

¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,^•¹²saying:^•

Amen. The blessing, and the glory, and the wisdom,^•and the thanksgiving, and the honor, and the power, and the strength^•be to our God forever and ever. Amen.^•

¹³Then one of the elders spoke up, saying to me: These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?^•¹⁴I said to him: My lord, you know. And he said to me:^•

These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation,^•and they washed their robes^•and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.^•¹⁵Therefore they are before the throne of God^•and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary;^•and He who is seated on the throne^•will spread His tabernacle over them.^•¹⁶They will hunger no more, nor thirst any more,^•nor will the sun by any means fall on them,^•nor any scorching heat,^•¹⁷for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them^•and will guide them to springs of the waters of life;^•and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.^•

Notes

7:1 “After this”: Gr. μετὰ τοῦτο (singular); in 7:9, μετὰ ταῦτα, “after these things” (cf. 4:1). Variant: the Byzantine text reads “And after this”; the Textus Receptus, “And after these things”. “Holding”: Gr. κρατέω (cf. 2:1). “Four corners… four winds”: cf. Isa 11:12; Jer 49:36; Dan 7:2; Zech 6:5. ↩
7:2 “From the rising of the sun”: that is, from the east. “The seal of the living God”: Gr. σφραγῖδα θεοῦ ζῶντος, lit. “a seal of the living God”. “Harm”: Gr. ἀδικέω (cf. 6:6). ↩
7:3 “Sealed”: Gr. σφραγίζω (cf. 10:4; 22:10). “Foreheads”: cf. 9:4; 14:1; 22:4; Ezek 9:4; Ex 28:36–38. ↩
7:5 The list begins with Judah (cf. 5:5), includes Levi and Joseph, and does not include Dan or Ephraim (cf. Gen 49; Ezek 48). Variant: the Textus Receptus repeats “sealed” after each tribe. ↩
7:9 “From every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues”: the order and number of the Greek, with a single preposition (cf. 5:9). “Clothed”: Gr. περιβάλλω (cf. 3:5). “Robes”: Gr. στολαί (cf. 6:11). “Palm branches”: Gr. φοίνικες (cf. Lev 23:40; John 12:13). ↩
7:10 “Salvation to our God”: the Greek has no verb (cf. 5:13; 19:1). Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “crying out”. ↩
7:11 “Were standing”: Gr. ἵστημι (cf. 5:6; 6:17). “Fell down”: Gr. πίπτω (cf. 4:10; 5:14). ↩
7:12 Seven attributes, each with the article (in 5:12, a single article for all seven). “Thanksgiving”: Gr. εὐχαριστία (cf. 4:9). ↩
7:13 “Spoke up”: Gr. ἀπεκρίθη, lit. “answered”, with no previous question. ↩
7:14 “Said”: Gr. εἴρηκα, perfect. “My lord”: addressed to the elder; the Textus Receptus omits “my”. “Came out”: Gr. οἱ ἐρχόμενοι, present participle, lit. “those who are coming”; rendered in the past, in harmony with “washed… made white”. “The great tribulation”: Gr. θλῖψις (cf. 1:9; 2:22; Dan 12:1; Matt 24:21). “Washed… made white”: cf. 22:14; Gen 49:11; Isa 1:18; Dan 11:35; 12:10 (Heb.). ↩
7:15 “Serve”: Gr. λατρεύω, the service of worship. “Sanctuary”: Gr. ναός (cf. 3:12; 11:19). “Will spread His tabernacle”: Gr. σκηνόω, “to dwell in a tent” (cf. 13:6; 21:3; John 1:14; Ezek 37:27). ↩
7:16 Cf. Isa 49:10. “By any means”: Gr. οὐδὲ μή. ↩
7:17 “Will shepherd”: Gr. ποιμαίνω (cf. 2:27; Ps 23:1–2; Ezek 34:23). “To springs of the waters of life”: lit. “to springs of waters of life” (cf. Isa 49:10). Variants: the Byzantine text reads “shepherds… guides” (present); the Textus Receptus reads “to living springs of waters”. “Wipe away”: Gr. ἐξαλείφω (cf. 3:5; 21:4; Isa 25:8). ↩