Revelation 4

The throne in heaven

After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.”a ²At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it.b ³The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne.c

⁴Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.d

Holy, holy, holy

⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God.e ⁶And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back.f ⁷The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.g

⁸And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”h ⁹And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne who lives forever and ever,i ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying:j ¹¹“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and came to be.”k