[1] After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door! And the first
voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up
hither, and I will show you what must take place after this." [2] At once I
was in the Spirit, and lo, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the
throne! [3] And he who sat there appeared like jasper and carnelian, and
round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. [4] Round the
throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four
elders, clad in white garments, with golden crowns upon their heads. [5]
From the throne issue flashes of lightning, and voices and peals of
thunder, and before the throne burn seven torches of fire, which are the
seven spirits of God; [6] and before the throne there is as it were a sea
of glass, like crystal. And round the throne, on each side of the throne,
are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: [7] the first
living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the
third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living
creature like a flying eagle. [8] And the four living creatures, each of
them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and
night they never cease to sing, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God
Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" [9] And whenever the living
creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the
throne, who lives for ever and ever, [10] the twenty-four elders fall down
before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever
and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, [11] "Worthy
art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou
didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created."
