6 Then I saw the lamb breaking the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, “Come,” in a thunderous voice. 2 So I looked, and wow, there was a white horse with someone sitting on it holding a bow and arrow. A crown was given to him, and then he went out as a conqueror to conquer.[ref] 3 And when the lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come,” 4 and another horse came out. It was a red horse, and the one sitting on it was given permission to withdraw peace from the earth so that people would slaughter each other, and a large sword was given to him.[ref] 5 Then the lamb broke the third seal and I heard the third living creature say, “Come.” I looked, and wow, there was a black horse, and the one sitting on it held balancing scales in his hand.[ref] 6 Then I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures that said, “A kilo of wheat for a day’s pay, or three kilos of barley for the same price. But don’t harm the oil and wine supplies.”

7 When the lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 Then I looked, and wow, there was a green horse. The one sitting on it was named ‘Death’, and Hades was sitting behind him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth: to execute people with the sword, with famine, with death, and with the wild animals on the earth.[ref]

9 When the lamb broke the fifth seal, under the altar I saw the souls of everyone who had been killed because of God’s word and because of the testimony that they had upheld. 10 These souls called out loudly, “You, master, always do what is right and decide what is right! So please condemn and punish the people on the earth who killed us.” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and told to wait a little longer until the full number was reached of their fellow servants and brothers and sisters who would also be killed like they were.

12 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.[ref] 13 Also the stars fell out of the sky, just like how a fig tree out of season drops its fruit when it gets shaken by a strong wind.[ref] 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places.[ref] 15 Then the kings on the earth, and high-ranking officials, military officers, rich people and influential individuals, all slaves and free people hid in caves and among rocks on the mountains.[ref] 16 They told the mountains and rocks, “Fall down on us and hide us so that the one sitting on the throne can’t see us, and also from the lamb’s anger[ref] 17 because today is the terrible day when their anger has eventuated, and who can stand up to that?”[ref]