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Revelation 6

1I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him. He went out overcoming and to overcome.

3When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4Another horse came out, fiery red. Its rider was given permission to take peace from the earth so that people would slaughter one another, and a great sword was given to him.

5When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. 6I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures saying, “A measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius! Do not harm the oil and the wine.”

7When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” 8I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades followed with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and famine and pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw beneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they held. 10They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, holy and true Master, before you judge and avenge our blood on those who live on the earth?” 11A white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were about to be killed as they had been was complete.

12I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. 13The stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree shaken by a strong wind drops its unripe figs. 14The sky withdrew like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17because the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Translation notes 5

6:1–8 — Riders and summons. The base's summons is simply “Come,” most naturally calling forth each rider; other witnesses expand it to “Come and see.” The first rider's identity is disputed, and no name is supplied. “Overcoming” deliberately retains the word used of the Lamb and believers. The pale green color of the last horse evokes death.

6:6 — Measures and wages. The grain measure is a choinix, approximately a person's daily grain ration; a denarius could be a day's laborer's wage. The prices depict severe scarcity. The reason oil and wine are spared is not explained.

6:8 — Hades and pestilence. Hades is personified as Death's companion. The KJV calls it “Hell”; the NET retains “Hades.” It is the dead's realm, distinguished from the lake of fire in 20:14. The last Greek “death” in this verse is rendered “pestilence” in the sword–famine–disease sequence.

6:9–11 — Souls and completion. The vision depicts slaughtered witnesses alive before God and calling for justice. “The number” is supplied to express the likely sense of “be completed”; completion of their course is another interpretation. “Brothers” is the family designation and can include women among the witnesses.

6:12–17 — Cosmic judgment. The text presents its cosmic images without replacing them with a modern astronomical explanation. “Their wrath” follows the Greek base and includes the enthroned one and the Lamb; “his wrath” is a textual alternative.