4

• After this I had a vision of an open door* to heaven, and I heard the trumpetlike voice that had spoken to me before, saying, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.”
• At once I was caught up in spirit.a A throne was there in heaven, and on the throne sat
• one whose appearance sparkled like jasper and carnelian. Around the throne was a halo as brilliant as an emerald.
• Surrounding the throne I saw twenty-four other thrones on which twenty-four elders* sat, dressed in white garments and with gold crowns on their heads.
• From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder.* Seven flaming torches burned in front of the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
• In front of the throne was something that resembled a sea of glass like crystal.* In the center and around the throne, there were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back.
• The first creature resembled a lion, the second was like a calf, the third had a face like that of a human being, and the fourth looked like an eagle* in flight.
• The four living creatures, each of them with six wings,* were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.”
• Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
• the twenty-four elders fall down before the one who sits on the throne and worship him, who lives forever and ever. They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming:
• “Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.”