Revelation

¹And after this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding the four winds²⁴⁹² of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. ²I saw another angel ascend from the rising sun with the seal of the living God [in his hand]. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, ³saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bondservants²⁴⁹³ of our God on their foreheads!” ⁴I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:²⁴⁹⁴

⁵of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed,

of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,²⁴⁹⁵

of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

⁶of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,

of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,

of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

⁷of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,

of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,

of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

⁸of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,

of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,

of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

The great multitude²⁴⁹⁶

⁹After these things I looked, and behold, there was a great multitude which no one could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰They cry with a loud voice, saying:

“Salvation [belongs] to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!”

¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne, along with the presbyters and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before his throne and expressed adoration to²⁴⁹⁷ God, ¹²saying:

“Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God unto ages of ages! Amen.”

¹³Then one of the presbyters spoke and asked me, “Who are these who are arrayed in the white robes, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴I told him, “My lord, you know!”²⁴⁹⁸

He said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵Therefore, they are before the throne of God and they offer divine service²⁴⁹⁹ to him day and night in his sanctuary. He who sits on the throne will tabernacle²⁵⁰⁰ with them. ¹⁶They will never be hungry or thirsty anymore. Neither heat nor sun will ever scorch them, ¹⁷for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne is their shepherd and leads them to the springs of the waters of life,²⁵⁰¹ and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The seven trumpets—The golden censer

2492. Compare Zechariah 2:6; 6:5 (note that “wind” and “spirits” are a translations of the same word, both in Hebrew and Greek. Some translations may read “spirits” in Zechariah).
2493. Or “slaves”
2494. Note that the tribe of Dan (from which the ‘antichrist’ was expected to arise by Ireneaus and Hyippolytus based on Jeremiah 8:18) is omitted.
2495. TR repeats “were sealed” throughout verses 5-8.
2496. It is possible or even likely that the great multitude of ‘true Israelites’ or ‘spiritual Israel’ is the same as the 144,000. This great multitude of true worshipers (from all nations, therefore including Gentiles) is observing the feast of the tabernables in God’s sanctuary as a priestly people. Compare Revelation 2:9; 3:9; John 4:23; Galatians 6:16
2497. proskuneo can also be translated “worship (in the broad sense),” “venerate,” “fall down in reverence,” “do obeisance” (see NT introduction regarding proskuneo)
2498. TR omits “My” in which case one could translate “Sir, you know!”
2499. Greek latreu,ousin (in the NT, all latr- forms refer to God exclusively, in the sense of ‘offering a service to God’)
2500. Or “will live/dwell/set his tent” (probably a reference to the feast of the tabernacles which is alluded to in verses 9-10)
2501. TR reads “springs of living water”