1 After these things I saw a door open in heaven, and the first voice came to my ears, like the sound of a horn, saying, Come up here, and I will make clear to you the things which are to come. 2 Straight away I was in the Spirit: and I saw a high seat in heaven, and one was seated on it; 3 And to my eyes he was like a jasper and a sardius stone: and there was an arch of light round the high seat, like an emerald. 4 And round about the high seat were four and twenty seats: and on them I saw four and twenty rulers seated, clothed in white robes; and on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the high seat came flames and voices and thunders. And seven lights of fire were burning before the high seat, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 And before the high seat there was, as it seemed, a clear sea of glass; and in the middle of the high seat, and round about it, four beasts full of eyes round about. 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second like an ox, and the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four beasts, having every one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and inside: and without resting day and night, they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, Ruler of all, who was and is and is to come. 9 And when the beasts give glory and honour to him who is seated on the high seat, to him who is living for ever and ever, 10 The four and twenty rulers go down on their faces before him who is seated on the high seat, and give worship to him who is living for ever and ever, and take off their crowns before the high seat, saying, 11 It is right, our Lord and our God, for you to have glory and honour and power: because by you were all things made, and by your desire they came into being.
Revelation · Bible in Basic English
Revelation 4 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (11)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Revelation 11:12; Exodus 24:12; Revelation 1:19; Revelation 1:10; Mark 1:10
- 2 Revelation 1:10; 1 Kings 22:19; Isaiah 6:1; Ezekiel 3:12–14; Ezekiel 1:26
- 3 Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 21:11; Genesis 9:13–16; Revelation 10:1; Ezekiel 28:13
- 4 Matthew 19:28; Revelation 11:16; Revelation 4:10; Revelation 7:11; Revelation 20:4
- 5 Revelation 11:19; Revelation 8:5; Revelation 1:4; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 16:17–18
- 6 Revelation 15:2; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 4:8–9; Revelation 14:3; Ezekiel 10:12
- 7 Ezekiel 10:14; Ezekiel 1:10; Ezekiel 10:21; Ezekiel 1:8; Revelation 4:6
- 8 Isaiah 6:2–13; Revelation 1:8; Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 4:6; Exodus 15:11
- 9 Revelation 5:13–14; Revelation 7:11–12; Revelation 10:6; Revelation 15:7; Psalm 47:8
- 10 Revelation 5:8; Psalm 95:6; Revelation 19:4; Revelation 11:16; 1 Chronicles 29:11–16
- 11 Colossians 1:16–17; Revelation 5:12; Isaiah 40:28; Proverbs 16:4; John 1:1–3
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For, [as the Scripture] says, "The first living creature was like a lion," symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His] sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but "the third had, as it were, the face as of a man,"--an evident description of His advent as a human being; "the fourth …