Revelation 7: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

John sees four angels holding back the winds so that no harm comes to the land, the sea, or the trees until God's servants are marked on their foreheads. He hears the number of those marked: 144,000 from the tribes of Israel, 12,000 from each of twelve tribes. Then he sees a crowd too large to count, from every nation, standing before the throne and the Lamb in white robes, praising God, while the angels fall on their faces and worship. An elder explains that these came out of the great suffering, washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and will never again hunger, thirst, or be scorched by the sun.

Claim by Claim

1. 7:1
   • After these things John saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth
   • The four angels were holding the four winds of the earth
   • The purpose was that no wind should blow on the earth
   • The purpose was that no wind should blow on the sea
   • The purpose was that no wind should blow on any tree
2. 7:2
   • John saw another angel ascending from where the sun rises
   • That angel had the seal of the living God
   • That angel cried with a loud voice to the four angels
   • It had been given to the four angels to harm the earth and the sea
3. 7:3
   • The angel said not to harm the earth
   • The angel said not to harm the sea
   • The angel said not to harm the trees
   • The prohibition lasts until they have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads
4. 7:4
   • John heard the number of those who were sealed
   • The number sealed was one hundred forty-four thousand
   • Those sealed were from all the tribes of the children of Israel
5. 7:5
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Judah
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Reuben
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Gad
6. 7:6
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Asher
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Naphtali
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Manasseh
7. 7:7
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Simeon
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Levi
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Issachar
8. 7:8
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Zebulun
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Joseph
   • Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Benjamin
9. 7:9
   • After this John looked and saw a great multitude
   • No one could number the multitude
   • The multitude was from every nation, tribe, people, and language
   • The multitude stood before the throne and before the Lamb
   • They were clothed with white robes
   • They had palm branches in their hands
10. 7:10
    • They cried with a loud voice
    • They said that salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne
    • They said that salvation belongs to the Lamb
11. 7:11
    • All the angels stood around the throne
    • The angels stood around the elders and the four living creatures
    • The angels fell on their faces before the throne
    • The angels worshipped God
12. 7:12
    • The angels said, Amen
    • They ascribed blessing to our God
    • They ascribed glory to our God
    • They ascribed wisdom to our God
    • They ascribed thanksgiving to our God
    • They ascribed honour to our God
    • They ascribed power to our God
    • They ascribed might to our God
    • They said this is his forever and ever
    • They said, Amen
13. 7:13
    • One of the elders spoke to John
    • The elder asked who the ones arrayed in white robes are
    • The elder asked where they came from
14. 7:14
    • John said to him, Sir, you know
    • The elder said these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation
    • The elder said they washed their robes
    • The elder said they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb
15. 7:15
    • For this reason they are before the throne of God
    • They serve God day and night in his temple
    • The one who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them
16. 7:16
    • They shall hunger no more
    • They shall thirst no more
    • The sun shall not fall on them
    • No heat shall fall on them
17. 7:17
    • The Lamb is in the midst of the throne
    • The Lamb shall shepherd them
    • The Lamb shall lead them to springs of living water
    • God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

7:1

"The four corners of the earth" and "the four winds" were ordinary ancient ways of saying the whole world and the winds from all four directions: north, south, east and west. The picture is of the entire earth's weather being held still at once.

7:2

A seal was a signet ring or carved stone pressed into soft wax or clay. It marked a document as genuine, kept it closed, and showed whose it was. The angel carries the stamp itself, not an impression of it. "From the east" is literally "from the rising of the sun."

7:3

Marking foreheads picks up an older image: in Ezekiel 9 a scribe marks the foreheads of those to be spared before a city is struck. In the ancient world a visible mark on the body could also identify a slave as belonging to a particular owner, or a soldier to a particular commander.

7:4

144,000 is twelve thousand from each of twelve tribes, that is twelve times twelve thousand. Numbers in this book are regularly built out of twelves, sevens and thousands rather than presented as plain counts.

7:5

The King James prints the tribal names in their Greek forms, which is why they look unfamiliar: "Juda" is Judah, and in the verses following "Aser" is Asher, "Nephthalim" is Naphtali, "Manasses" is Manasseh, and "Zabulon" is Zebulun.

7:6

In the King James, "Aser" is Asher, "Nephthalim" is Naphtali, and "Manasses" is Manasseh.

7:8

This list of twelve differs from the usual Old Testament lists. Dan is absent; Levi, normally counted apart as the priestly tribe and left out of territorial lists, is included; and Joseph appears alongside his son Manasseh, where lists usually name Joseph's two sons Ephraim and Manasseh instead.

7:9

Palm branches were carried in processions of celebration and victory, and white robes were festival dress. "Kindreds" in the King James means clans or extended families, and "tongues" means languages.

7:10

"Salvation to our God" is a shout of acclamation, not a wish or a request. It means rescue belongs to God and comes from him, in the same way a crowd might shout that victory belongs to a king.

7:11

"Beasts" in the King James does not mean animals in the modern sense. The Greek word means living creatures, and it refers to the four figures around the throne described earlier in the book. The elders are the twenty-four enthroned figures of chapter 4.

7:12

"Amen" is a Hebrew word carried over untranslated into Greek and then into English. It means roughly "truly" or "let it stand," and it was said to endorse a statement or a blessing as one's own.

7:13

"Answered" in the King James often means simply that someone spoke up or began to speak. Here the elder is not replying to anything; he starts the exchange.

7:14

"Sir" translates a Greek word of respectful address used to a superior, the same word elsewhere translated "lord." "Tribulation" translates a Greek word whose basic sense is pressure or crushing, used for hard affliction from outside, not inner distress.

7:15

The King James "dwell among them" renders a Greek verb built from the word for a tent. It means to pitch a tent over or among people, and it deliberately recalls the tabernacle, the tent in which God was said to travel with Israel in the wilderness.

7:16

These lines are quoted almost word for word from Isaiah 49:10, a promise about exiles being brought home across desert country, where hunger, thirst and the sun were the real dangers of the journey.

7:17

"Feed them" is narrower in modern English than the King James intends. The Greek verb means to shepherd: to pasture, guide and protect a flock. "Living fountains of waters" means springs of fresh running water, as opposed to the still water of a cistern or pool. The closing line is drawn from Isaiah 25:8.