Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Rev C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22
Rev 6 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17
OET (OET-LV) And I_saw when he_opened_up the seal the sixth, and an_earthquake great there_became, and the sun became black as sackcloth hairy, and the moon whole became like blood,
OET (OET-RV) When the lamb broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake and the sun went black like black cloth, and the moon which was full, went red like blood.
In this section, Jesus, the Lamb, opened six of the seven seals on the scroll. The opening of each of the first four seals revealed a rider and a horse who would cause a different kind of trouble for people on the earth. The opening of the fifth seal revealed all the people who had been killed because of their faith. The opening of the sixth seal caused the whole universe to be shaken and moved.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
The Lamb opened six of the seven seals
The Seals (NIV)
The first six seals are opened
And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal,
¶ I watched as he broke open the sixth seal.
¶ I saw the Lamb remove/undo the sixth wax stamp.
sixth: This refers to the next item after five other things. If counted, this item would be counted as number six.
All of these events occurred when the sixth seal was opened. Probably 6:15–17 and all of chapter 7 also occur after the sixth seal was opened.
there was a great earthquake,
A great earthquake occurred,
And/Then the earth shook greatly.
(NRSV) and: In Greek, 6:12b begins with the conjunction usually translated “and.” Here, the conjunction implies that opening the seal caused the earthquake and other events to occur. The BSB omits the conjunction and allows the context to imply its meaning.
there was a great earthquake: There is a textual issue in 6:12b: (1) Some early Greek manuscripts begin 6:12b with the word and (BSB, NIV, GNT, NJB, NASB, NLT, GW, CEV, NET, NABRE, REB, NCV). (2) One early Greek manuscript begin 6:12b with the words and look (RSV, KJV, ESV). It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the UBS Greek NT supports it. The Greek clause is literally “a great earthquake occurred.” Another way to translate this clause is:
The earth shook greatly/terribly
earthquake: The word earthquake refers to the ground shaking.
and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair,
the sun became black like a hair sackcloth,
The sun became black like coarse cloth made of black goat hair.
sackcloth of goat hair: The Greek phrase is literally “a hair sackcloth.” Sackcloth is a rough cloth. The threads of the cloth are thick and made of hair. So the simile probably refers to the rough texture and dark color of such a cloth. Use the word or phrase for a coarse cloth of this kind. For example:
coarse sackcloth (NJB)
and the whole moon turned blood red,
the whole moon became red as blood,
The entire moon turned the color of blood.
the whole moon turned blood red: The Greek clause is literally “the whole moon became as blood.” This clause probably indicates that the moon turned the deep red color of blood. For example:
the whole moon became red like blood (NCV)
Note 1 topic: translate-unknown
σεισμὸς μέγας
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶδον ὅτε ἤνοιξεν τήν σφραγῖδα τήν ἕκτην καί σεισμός μέγας ἐγένετο καί ὁ ἥλιος ἐγένετο μέλας ὡς σάκκος τρίχινος καί ἡ σελήνη ὅλη ἐγένετο ὡς αἷμα)
An earthquake is a natural disaster in which the ground shakes, often destroying buildings, bridges, and other structures. Your language and culture may have a term for an earthquake that you can use in your translation. You could also use a general expression. Alternate translation: [a great shaking of the ground]
Note 2 topic: translate-unknown
ὡς σάκκος τρίχινος
as sackcloth hairy
The word sackcloth describes clothing for mourning that in this culture was woven from black goat hair. In this culture, the color black was associated with death. Alternate translation: [like mourning clothing] or [like the feathers of a raven]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
ἡ σελήνη ὅλη ἐγένετο ὡς αἷμα
the moon whole became like blood
The point of this comparison is that just as blood is red, the full moon turned read. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this point explicitly. Alternate translation: [the full moon became red like blood]
6:1–16:21 Three sets of seven judgments—the seals, trumpets, and bowls—form the core of Revelation. Some suggest that the judgments form a chronological sequence from beginning to end, with each set of judgments flowing from the seventh judgment of the previous set for a total of twenty-one successive judgments. More likely, the relationship is cyclical (as in other Jewish apocalyptic works; cp. Dan 2, 7, 8, 11), with each set conveying increasing intensity and adding new details of God’s judgment on those who rebel against him. In this perspective, all three cycles end at the same chronological point, with the return of Christ.
OET (OET-LV) And I_saw when he_opened_up the seal the sixth, and an_earthquake great there_became, and the sun became black as sackcloth hairy, and the moon whole became like blood,
OET (OET-RV) When the lamb broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake and the sun went black like black cloth, and the moon which was full, went red like blood.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.