The Scroll with Seven Seals
6 And there [b]between the throne (with the four living creatures) and among the elders I saw a Lamb (Christ) standing, [bearing scars and wounds] as though it had been slain, with seven horns (complete power) and with seven eyes (complete knowledge), which are [c]the seven Spirits of God who have been sent [on duty] into all the earth.© 7 And He came and [d]took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb (Christ), each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of fragrant incense, which are the prayers of the saints (God’s people). 9 And they sang a new song [of glorious redemption], saying,
10
“You have made them to be a kingdom [of royal subjects] and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth.”(E)
Angels Exalt the Lamb
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and [the voice] of the living creatures and the elders; and they numbered myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands (innumerable),(F) 12 saying in a loud voice,
13 And I heard every created thing that is in heaven or on earth or under the earth [in Hades, the realm of the dead] or on the sea, and everything that is in them, saying [together],
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped [Him who lives forever and ever].
Footnotes
- Revelation 5:2 When the seals are broken, the consummation of history, focused in the judgments, is unveiled.
- Revelation 5:6 The Lamb is Jesus Christ, who stands “between,” in other words both as one with God upon the throne and as one with humanity around the throne.
- Revelation 5:6 See note 1:4.
- Revelation 5:7 Lit has taken. This is the Greek perfect tense, which John sometimes uses to emphasize the lasting significance of an action or event.
Cross references
- Revelation 5:1 : Is 29:11; Ezek 2:9, 10; Dan 12:4
- Revelation 5:5 : Gen 49:9, 10; Is 11:1, 10; Rev 22:16
- Revelation 5:6 : Is 53:7; Zech 3:8, 9; 4:10
- Revelation 5:9 : Ps 33:3
- Revelation 5:10 : Ex 19:6; Is 61:6; Rev 20:6
- Revelation 5:11 : Dan 7:10
- Revelation 5:13 : Dan 7:13, 14