After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the
earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might
blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel
ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living
God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had
been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the
earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of
our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed,
144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no
one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples
and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and
crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who
sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were
standing around the throne and around the elders and the four
living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne
and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever
and ever! Amen.”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these,
clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to
him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming
out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his
presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
