1 I watched as the Lamb broke open the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures shout with a thunderous voice, "Come!6:1. The command could also be, "Go!"" 2 I looked and saw a white horse. Its rider was holding a bow. He was given a crown, and he rode out conquering so that he would be victorious.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar those6:9. "Those." In the original the word means "lives," often translated as "souls." However, the Biblical concept of the "soul" references a living person (e.g. Genesis 2:7) and can die (Ezekiel 18:20) and is not the disembodied spirit of Hellenistic thought. Like many aspects in Revelation the fact that these dead martyrs should speak is symbolic rather than literal. who had been killed because of their dedication to the word of God and their faithful witness. 10 They cried out, shouting, "How long, Lord who is holy and true, before you will judge and bring to justice those on earth who spilled our blood?" 11 Each one of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait for a little longer until their number was complete—their fellow-believers and brothers who would be killed like them.