5
“Who Is Worthy to Break the Seals on This Scroll and Unroll It?”
1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll, with writing on both sides of it,+ sealed with seven seals.
2 I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming loudly,+ “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and unroll it?”+
3 There was no one, however, in heaven or on the earth or in Sheol,+ who was fit+ to unroll the scroll and see its contents.+
4 And so I began to weep loudly,+ because no one could be found who was worthy to unroll the scroll and see its contents.
5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,+ has prevailed victorious. He is worthy+ to break the seven seals and unroll the scroll.”
6 Then I saw standing near the throne, surrounded by the four living creatures and the elders,+ a Lamb. It bore the marks of sacrifice,+ and had seven horns and seven eyes. (The eyes+ represent the sevenfold Spirit+ of God, sent throughout the whole earth.+)
7 The Lamb+ approached and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne.
8 When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves down before the Lamb, each of them holding a harp and gold bowls filled with incense. (The bowls full of incense+ represent the prayers of the Lord’s holy people.+)
9 And they sang a new song:
“Worthy you are to take the scroll and break its seals,
because you were slain and purchased for God, at the cost+ of your own blood,
people from every tribe and language+ and race and nation,
10 and appointed them to serve our God as a kingdom and priests,
and they will reign on the earth.”
11 Again I looked, and I heard the voices of countless angels gathered in a circle around the throne and of the living creatures and of the elders. There were millions upon millions of them,+
12 and they were singing in a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
13 Then I heard singing, too, every creature in heaven+ and on the earth and in Sheol+ and in the sea, indeed all that is in them:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and supremacy
forever into the ages of the ages!”
14 “Amen!” the four living creatures answered. And the elders threw themselves to the ground and worshiped.