Revelation 6
The full text of Revelation 6 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!"
2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"
4 Then another horse came out, fiery red. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill one another. And he was given a great sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A day's wages for a quart of wheat, and a day's wages for three quarts of barley, but do not damage the oil and the wine!"
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"
8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had held to.
10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants and brothers and sisters were killed as they had been.
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,
13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, like late figs dropping from a tree when it is shaken by a strong wind.
14 The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone else, slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?"
Translation notes (9)
- Revelation 6:2a The Greek nikon kai hina nikese, literally 'conquering and in order to conquer', doubles the verb; 'a conqueror bent on conquest' preserves that emphasis. The crown is a stephanos (στέφανος), a victor's wreath rather than a royal diadem. The rider's identity remains contested: some interpreters see Christ, on the pattern of the white horse of Revelation 19:11, while others see a parody of him heralding conquest.
- Revelation 6:4a hippos pyrros, 'fiery red,' evokes the colored horses in Zechariah 1:8-10; 6:1-8, which patrol the earth; the motif here is adapted to depict the removal of order. The verb sphazo, 'slay,' commonly denotes sacrificial slaughter, and machaira megale, 'great sword,' suggests a short blade emblematic of violent upheaval.
- Revelation 6:6a A denarius, a Greek coin, was roughly a day's wage; a choinix is about a quart (just over a liter).
- Revelation 6:8a Chlōros (χλωρός), 'pale', elsewhere describes green vegetation (Mark 6:39; Revelation 8:7); here it denotes the sickly yellow-green pallor of a corpse, fitting for the horse of Death. Hadēs (ᾅδης), 'Hades', is retained as the name of the realm of the dead rather than translated 'hell'. The four scourges echo the judgments of Ezekiel 14:21.
- Revelation 6:9a The Greek esphagmenōn (ἐσφαγμένων), 'slaughtered', is the same verb used of the Lamb in Revelation 5:6, presenting the martyrs' deaths as sacrificial. Their place under the altar recalls Leviticus 4:7, where the blood of the offering was poured out at the altar's base, and Leviticus 17:11, which locates the life in the blood.
- Revelation 6:10a Greek heos pote (ἕως πότε), 'how long?', is a lament formula echoing the Psalms. 'Sovereign Lord' renders despotes (δεσπότης), 'master' or 'sovereign,' a vocative stressing absolute authority; elsewhere used of God (Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24) and of human masters. 'Avenge' reflects ekdikeo (ἐκδικέω), 'vindicate' or 'avenge,' with legal connotations.
- Revelation 6:11a The phrase "fellow servants and brothers" (Greek: hoi syndouloi kai hoi adelphoi auton) is attested by the majority of Greek manuscripts. A few manuscripts omit "fellow servants and".
- Revelation 6:12a The imagery draws on Joel 2:31, where the sun turns to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord, and on Isaiah 50:3, where God clothes the heavens with sackcloth. The Greek sakkos trichinos, 'sackcloth of hair', refers to coarse dark cloth woven from goat hair, a traditional garment of mourning.
- Revelation 6:17a Some manuscripts read 'his wrath.'
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is a new translation of the Bible prepared by Trinity Bible — rendered from the original Greek and faithful to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. Finished in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation you can read today, and it is available only through Trinity Bible. All 66 books, including Revelation, are free to read on this site.
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