Revelation 7

1After 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 would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

2Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, where the sun rises, with the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and the sea:

3“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

4And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the Israelites.

5From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

6from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

7from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

8from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, and from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

9After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

10And they cried out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

12saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13Then one of the elders spoke up and asked me, “These who are dressed in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

14I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15That is why they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will spread his tent over them.

16They will hunger no more and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat,

17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”