Revelation 6

¹Then I watched while the Lamb broke open the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures cry out in a voice like thunder, “Come forward.”[#The imagery is adapted from Zec 1:8–10; 6:1–8.]

²I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider had a bow. He was given a crown, and he rode forth victorious to further his victories.[#: this may perhaps allude specifically to the Parthians on the eastern border of the Roman empire. Expert in the use of the bow, they constantly harassed the Romans and won a major victory in A.D. 62; see note on Rev 9:13–21. But the Old Testament imagery typifies the history of oppression of God’s people at all times.; #Zec 1:8–10; 6:1–3.]

³When he broke open the second seal, I heard the second living creature cry out, “Come forward.”

⁴Another horse came out, a red one. Its rider was given power to take peace away from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And he was given a huge sword.[#: this is a symbol of war and violence; cf. Ez 21:14–17.; #Ez 21:14–16.]

⁵When he broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature cry out, “Come forward.” I looked, and there was a black horse, and its rider held a scale in his hand.[#: this is a symbol of famine, the usual accompaniment of war in antiquity; cf. Lv 26:26; Ez 4:12–13. The is a symbol of shortage of food with a corresponding rise in price.]

⁶I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It said, “A ration of wheat costs a day’s pay, and three rations of barley cost a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil or the wine.”[#: literally, “a denarius,” a Roman silver coin that constitutes a day’s wage in Mt 20:2. Because of the famine, food was rationed and sold at an exorbitant price. A liter of flour was considered a day’s ration in the Greek historians Herodotus and Diogenes Laertius. : food of the poor (Jn 6:9, 13; cf. 2 Kgs 7:1, 16, 18); it was also used to feed animals; cf. 1 Kgs 5:8. : the olive and the vine are to be used more sparingly in time of famine.; #Lv 26:26; Ez 4:16–17.]

⁷When he broke open the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature cry out, “Come forward.”

⁸I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades accompanied him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth.[#: symbol of death and decay; cf. Ez 14:21.; #Ez 14:21.]

⁹When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God.[#: this altar corresponds to the altar of holocausts in the temple in Jerusalem; see also Rev 11:1. : literally, “because of the word of God and the witness they had borne.”]

¹⁰They cried out in a loud voice, “How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”[#: Old Testament usage as well as the context indicates that this is addressed to God rather than to Christ.]

¹¹Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers who were going to be killed as they had been.

¹²Then I watched while he broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; the sun turned as black as dark sackcloth and the whole moon became like blood.[#Symbolic rather than literal description of the cosmic upheavals attending the day of the Lord when the martyrs’ prayer for vindication (Rev 6:10) would be answered; cf. Am 8:8–9; Is 34:4; 50:3; Jl 2:10; 3:3–4; Mt 24:4–36; Mk 13:5–37; Lk 21:8–36.; #: for mourning, sackcloth was made from the skin of a black goat.; #Jl 3:4; Mt 24:29.]

¹³The stars in the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs shaken loose from the tree in a strong wind.[#: literally, “summer (or winter) fruit.”]

¹⁴Then the sky was divided like a torn scroll curling up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.[#: literally, “was split,” like a broken papyrus roll torn in two, each half then curling up to form a roll on either side.; #Is 34:4 / Rev 16:20.]

¹⁵The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags.[#: literally, “courtiers,” “grandees.” : literally, “commanders of 1,000 men,” used in Josephus and other Greek authors as the equivalent of the Roman tribunus militum . The listing of various ranks of society represents the universality of terror at the impending doom.]

¹⁶They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,[#Is 2:19; Hos 10:8; Lk 23:30.]

¹⁷because the great day of their wrath has come and who can withstand it?”[#: this reading is attested in the best manuscripts, but the vast majority read “his” in reference to the wrath of the Lamb in the preceding verse.]