4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
4:2 Immediately I was in the ①Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and someone was sitting on the throne.
▷ ①Or spirit
4:3 And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a ①rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
▷ ①Or halo
4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.
4:5 Out from the throne *came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are ①the seven spirits of God;
▷ ①Possibly a symbolic reference to the Holy Spirit in His fullness, or to seven key angels
4:6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the ①center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
▷ ①Lit middle of the throne and around
4:7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
4:8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night ①they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, who was and who is and who ②is to come.”
▷ ①Lit they have no rest, saying, ②Or is coming
4:9 And when the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
4:10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they ①existed, and were created.”
▷ ①Lit were