First Nations Version
Page 76
2Then I saw another spirit-messenger rising from the place where the sun rises, holding the branding iron16 of the living Creator. With a loud voice the messenger called out to the four spirit-messengers who were permitted to harm the land and the sea.
THE SEALING OF THE SERVANTS OF CREATOR
3“Bring no harm to the land, sea, or trees,” the messenger instructed them, “until we have sealed the mark of the Great Spirit on the foreheads of the ones who serve him.”17
4I then heard the number that would be sealed—one hundred forty-four thousand—from all of the tribes of children of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).
5-8Twelve thousand were sealed from each of the tribes named and represented here:
Give Him Praise (Judah), Son of My Vision (Reuben), Counting Many Coups (Gad), Walks with a Glad Heart (Asher), He Will Wrestle (Naphtali), He Made Them Forget (Manasseh), Creator Hears (Simeon), He Brings Together (Levi), He Is My Reward (Issachar), Honored Dwelling (Zebulun), Creator Gives More (Joseph), Son of My Right Hand (Benjamin).
EVERY TRIBE AND LANGUAGE
9After this I saw a great crowd of people, too many to count, from every nation, tribe, clan, and language. They were standing before the seat of honor and before the Lamb, dressed in pure white regalia, holding palm tree branches in their hands.
10They lifted their voices and shouted, “The power to set us free and make us whole belongs to the Great Spirit who sits upon the seat of honor, and to the Lamb!”
11All the spirit-messengers who encircled the seat of honor, along with the elders and the four living spirit animals, humbled themselves and fell face down on the ground before the Great Spirit to give him the honor that he deserves.
12“Aho! It is so!” they said with one voice. “Praise and honor and wisdom and respect and power and strength belong to the Great Spirit to the time beyond the end of all days! Aho! It is so!”
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
13Then one of the elders spoke to me, “Who are these people who are dressed in white regalia? And from where did they come?”
14“Honored one,” I said to him, “you must know.”
Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have come through the time of great trouble and suffering. They have washed their regalia in the lifeblood shed by the Lamb, making their regalia pure white.
15“Because of this they stand before the seat of honor, and they serve the Great Spirit day and night in the inner court of his sacred lodge. The one who sits on the seat of honor will spread his sacred tent over them and cover them in the shadow of his wings. 16Never again will they hunger or thirst or suffer under the heat of the desert sun.
17“The Lamb at the center of the seat of honor will watch over them like a shepherd watches over his sheep. He will guide them to springs of life-giving water, and there the Great Spirit will perform the wiping of tears ceremony for each of them.”
SILENCE IN THE WORLD ABOVE
1When the Lamb broke open the seventh seal, a powerful silence fell on the spirit-world above that remained for about half an hour. 2Then I saw the seven spirit-messengers that stand before the Great Spirit. They were given seven eagle bone whistles.18
SMOKE AND PRAYERS GO UP
3Another spirit-messenger, holding a golden smudge bowl in his hands, came and stood before the sacred altar. He was given much incense to burn as a sweet-smelling smoke offering above the sacred golden altar and offer it up along with the prayers of all the holy ones. 4From the golden smudge bowl in the hand of the spirit-messenger the sweet-smelling smoke, mixed with the prayers of Creator’s holy ones, began to rise to the Great Spirit.
PURIFYING FIRE
5Then the spirit-messenger filled the smudge bowl with fiery coals from the sacred altar and threw it down on the land. I heard the crashing and rolling thunder and saw flashes of lightning, and the earth began to shake.
6Then the seven spirit-messengers who were holding the seven eagle bone whistles19 got ready to sound them.
THE SOUNDING OF THE EAGLE BONE WHISTLES
7The first spirit-messenger sounded his eagle bone whistle, and hail and fire mixed with blood came out from the altar and were thrown down on the land. A third part of the land was burned with fire, and a third of the trees, and all the green grass.
8The second spirit-messenger sounded his eagle bone whistle, and what looked like a great mountain burning like a wildfire was thrown into the sea. A third of the waters turned into blood, 9a third of all the living sea creatures died, and a third of the sea-canoes sank.
10The third spirit-messenger sounded his eagle bone whistle, and from the sky came a great star flaming like a torch. The flaming star fell down on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11The name of the star was Bitterness, and a third of the waters became bitter, and many people died because the water had been made bitter.
12The fourth spirit-messenger sounded his eagle bone whistle, and a third of the sun, moon, and the stars were struck with darkness. So for a third of the day the sun gave no light, and for a third of the night the moon and stars did not shine.
13Then I heard the screech of an eagle above me, so I looked up and saw an eagle soaring in the sky.
“Warning, warning, warning!” the eagle screeched, “to those who live on the land, because of the remaining eagle bone whistles20 to be sounded by the last three spirit-messengers!”
THE BOTTOMLESS PIT IS OPENED
1The fifth spirit-messenger sounded his eagle bone whistle,21 and I saw a star falling to earth from the spirit-world above. The star was given the power22 to open the way to the deep, dark underworld.
2The star opened the way, and smoke began to rise from the pit, like smoke from a great fiery furnace. The air was filled with the smoke, and the sun was darkened.
FIERCE GRASSHOPPERS EMERGE
3Out of the smoke came fierce giant grasshoppers on the land. They were given power to sting like earthly scorpions. 4They were told not to harm any of the earth’s grass or any green plant or tree, but only the human beings who had not been marked on their foreheads with the seal of the Great Spirit. 5They were not permitted to kill anyone, but only to bring them pain and suffering for five moons—pain like the sting of a scorpion.
6In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will run and hide from them.
7The grasshoppers looked like warhorses prepared for battle. They wore golden headdresses, and their faces looked human. 8They had hair like a woman and teeth like a mountain lion. 9They wore breastplates of iron, and their wings sounded like many horses galloping into battle. 10Their tails were like a scorpion’s, and their sting had the power to greatly wound people for five moons. 11Their war-chief is the spirit-messenger of the deep dark underworld. The name of the war-chief in our tribal language23 is Abaddon, meaning Destroyer, and in the language of the Outside Nations24 his name is Apollyon, also meaning Destroyer.
12The first time of terrible pain and suffering has passed, but two more times of terrible pain and suffering will soon follow.
A GREAT ARMY OF MANY HORSEMEN
13When the sixth spirit-messenger sounded an eagle bone whistle,25 I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before the Great Spirit.
14The voice spoke to the spirit-messenger, saying, “Unleash the four spirit-messengers who are bound at the great river called Much Fruit (Euphrates).”
15Then the four spirit-messengers who had been held ready for that very hour and day and moon and year were unleashed to kill a third of humankind. 16I heard the number of this great herd of horse riders. It was twice ten thousand multiplied by ten thousand.
THE APPEARANCE OF THE HORSES AND RIDERS
17In my sacred vision I could see the appearance of the riders and their horses. The riders wore breastplates that were fiery red, smoky blue, and yellow like sulfur that burns. The horses had heads like mountain lions, and out from their mouths came fire, smoke, and burning sulfur. 18
It was these three things that killed a third of humankind—the fire, smoke, and burning sulfur that came from the horses’ mouths. 19The power of the horses was in their mouths and tails, for on the end of their tails were snake-like heads that could bite and injure people.
THE PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT KILLED
20The rest of the people who were not killed in this way did not turn away from the spirit-images they made with their own hands. They continued to follow evil spirits and pray to these spirit-images made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see, hear, or walk. 21They also did not turn away from their murders, witchcraft, and sexual impurity, or from taking what is not theirs.
A SPIRIT-MESSENGER AND THE VOICE OF SEVEN THUNDERS
1Then I saw another powerful spirit-messenger coming down from the spirit-world above. He was clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like towers of fire, 2and a small scroll lay open in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3He cried out with a loud voice that roared like a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders spoke with rumbling voices.
4I was about to write down the message spoken by the seven thunders when I heard a voice from the spirit-world above.
“Do not reveal what the seven thunders have spoken,” the voice instructed me. “Seal up the words and do not write them down.”
THE ANCIENT MYSTERY IS FINISHED
5Then the spirit-messenger whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to the spirit-world above. 6He made a solemn promise representing the one who lives to the time beyond all days, the one who created all things in the spirit-world above, on the earth below, the great waters of the sea, and all that is in them.
“There shall be no more delay,” he cried out, 7“for the time has come for the seventh spirit-messenger to sound his eagle bone whistle!26 When he sounds, the ancient mystery spoken by the Great Spirit will be complete, bringing the full meaning and purpose of the good story that he revealed to his prophets who served him.”
THE SMALL SCROLL IS SWEET AND BITTER
8Then I again heard the voice that had spoken to me from the spirit-world above.
“Go,” the voice said to me, “and take the scroll that is lying open in the hand of the spirit-messenger who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9I did as I was told and instructed the spirit-messenger to give me the scroll.
“Take it and eat it,” the messenger said to me. “It will be as sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn bitter in your stomach.”
10So I took the small scroll from the hand of the spirit-messenger and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed, it became bitter in my stomach.
11Then I was told, “You must once again prophesy to many peoples, nations, languages, and rulers.”
MEASURING THE SACRED LODGE
1A measuring reed the size of a walking stick was given to me.
“Rise up,” a voice said to me, “and measure Creator’s sacred lodge and the altar, and count the ones who make their prayers and serve him there. 2But do not measure the courtyard that is outside of the lodge, for it has been given over to the Outside Nations. And for forty-two moons they will trample the sacred village under their feet.
THE TWO TRUTH-TELLER PROPHETS
3“And I will give power to my two truth tellers, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing rough animal hides27 to show the sorrow in their hearts.”
4These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Honored One of all the earth. 5Fire will come out from their mouths to burn up all their enemies. All who try to harm them must die in this manner. 6They also have the power over the sky to hold back the rain during the days of their prophesying. And they have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and the power to bring all kinds of disasters on the land as often as they desire.
THE TWO PROPHETS ARE KILLED
7When they have completed their time of truth telling, the wild beast who rises from the deep, dark underworld will make war with them and defeat and kill them. 8Their bodies will lie dead in the pathway of the great Village of Peace (Jerusalem), where our Honored Chief was killed by being nailed to a tree-pole—the cross. This village is spiritually known as Village of Bad Spirits (Sodom) and as Black Land (Egypt).
9For three and a half days people from many tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their dead bodies and will not permit them to be buried properly. 10Those who dwell in the land will celebrate with glad hearts and send gifts one to another, because these two prophets had caused them such great suffering.
THE PROPHETS RETURN TO LIFE
11But after three and a half days, the breath of the Great Spirit entered into them. When they rose to their feet, great fear fell on all who were watching. 12Then the two prophets heard a loud voice from the spirit-world above.
“Come up here!” the voice said to them. As their enemies watched, a cloud took them up into the spirit-world above.
13At that same time there was a great shaking of the earth. A tenth of the village came crashing down, and seven thousand people were killed. Those who remained were filled with fear and gave honor to the Great Spirit of the world above.
14The second time of terrible pain and suffering has passed, but a third time of terrible pain and suffering will soon follow.
THE SEVENTH EAGLE BONE WHISTLE
15Then when the seventh spirit-messenger sounded his eagle bone whistle,28 I heard loud voices in the spirit-world above.
“The power to rule this world now belongs to our Great Spirit Chief and to his Chosen One,” the voices thundered, “and the guidance of his good road will last beyond the end of all days!”
16Then the twenty-four elders, who sit in seats of honor before Creator, fell face down on the ground to give honor to the Great Spirit.
17“We offer thanks to you, O Honored One,” they said with one voice. “You are the All-Powerful One, Who Is and Was, for you have revealed your great power and established your good road. 18The nations were furious, but now the time of your fierce anger has come. It is time for you to decide the fate of the dead and to honor the ones who serve you—both prophets and holy ones—all who have deep respect for your name, from the smallest to the greatest among us. And it is time for you to bring to an end the ones who have brought destruction to the land.”
19Then I looked and saw that the way into Creator’s sacred lodge in the spirit-world above was open. Inside the lodge the cedar box of the peace treaty came into view. Lightning flashed with the sound of crashing thunder, and the earth shook while large hailstones fell from the sky.
OMENS IN THE WORLD ABOVE
1A great and mysterious omen was seen in the spirit-world above: a woman wearing the sun for her regalia, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a headdress of twelve stars. 2She was with child and cried out in agony as she was giving birth.
3Then another omen was seen in the spirit-world above: a great fiery-red sea serpent with seven heads and ten horns. On each of its seven heads it wore the headdress of a chief. 4With its tail the sea serpent reached up into the spirit-world above and pulled down a third of all the stars and threw them down on the land. Then the fiery-red sea serpent, wanting to swallow up her child as soon as it was born, placed itself in front of the woman, waiting for her to give birth.
A SON IS BORN TO RULE THE NATIONS
5The woman gave birth to a son, a male child, the one who holds an iron chief’s staff to rule over all nations. And her child was taken up to the Great Spirit and to his seat of honor.
6The woman found safe passage into the desert wilderness, to the place Creator had prepared for her. There she would be fed and kept safe for one thousand two hundred sixty days.
WARFARE IN THE WORLD ABOVE
7I looked up and saw that there was an uprising in the spirit-world above. Who Is Li
ke Creator (Michael) and his spirit-messengers were waging war with the fiery-red sea serpent and its spirit-messengers. They fought back, 8but they were not powerful enough, and the sea serpent and its spirit-messengers lost their foothold in the spirit-world above.
9The great fiery-red sea serpent was thrown down from the spirit-world above. He is the ancient trickster snake, who is also called the evil one and Accuser (Satan). He is the one who takes the whole world down a false path. He was thrown down to the ground, along with all his spirit-messengers.
CREATOR’S GOOD ROAD HAS ARRIVED
10Then I heard a voice thundering in the spirit-world above, saying, “The good road of the Great Spirit has finally arrived! This good road has the power to set us free and make us whole! The Chosen One has walked this good road to the end and has the right to bring it to us. And now, the one who by day and by night accuses the sacred family members before the Great Spirit has been thrown down to the ground. 11Creator’s holy ones won the victory over him by the lifeblood shed by the Lamb and by boldly telling his story, and, when faced with death, they loved him more than they loved their own lives.