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• After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,* holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or sea or against any tree.
• Then I saw another angel come up from the East,* holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
• “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
• I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked* from every tribe of the Israelites:
• twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Judah,* twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad,
• twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh,
• twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar,
• twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, and twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Benjamin.
• After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches* in their hands.
• They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from* our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”
• All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God,
• and exclaimed: “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
• Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
• I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;* they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
• “For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.
• They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them.
• For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water,* and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”