Revelation 7

1Next I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the earth’s four winds, so that no wind could blow on land or sea or on any tree. 2I saw yet another angel, coming up from where the sun rises and carrying the seal of the living God. In a loud voice he called to the four angels who had been allowed to harm the earth and the sea: 3“Hold off from harming the earth, the sea, and the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”

4And I heard how many were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the Israelites. 5From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000; from the tribe of Gad, 12,000; 6from the tribe of Asher, 12,000; from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000; from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000; 7from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000; from the tribe of Levi, 12,000; from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000; 8from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000; from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000; and from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 were sealed.

9After this I looked, and I saw a crowd so vast that no one could number it. They came from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and languages, and they stood before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10With a loud voice they cry out: “To our God, seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, salvation belongs!” 11Every angel stood in a circle around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves face down before the throne and worshiped God. 12“Amen!” they said. “Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13One of the elders turned to me with a question: “Those clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?” 14I answered, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who are coming out of the great affliction. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. 15For this reason they stand before God’s throne and serve him day and night in his temple, and the one who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16No more will they go hungry, no more will they be thirsty; the sun will not strike them, nor any burning heat. 17For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of the water of life, and every tear God will wipe from their eyes.”