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1 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 would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the children of Israel:
5 From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000; from the tribe of Gad, 12,000;
6 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000; from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000; from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000;
7 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000; from the tribe of Levi, 12,000; from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000;
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000; from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000; from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 sealed.
9 After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, and from all tribes, peoples, and languages. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
10 They cry out with a loud voice,
“Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These who are clothed in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 For this reason 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. 16 They will hunger no more and thirst no more. The sun will never beat down on them, nor any scorching heat, 17 for the Lamb in the midst 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.”