This chapter contains the vision of the opening six of the seals of the sealed book, by the Lamb, and of the events following thereupon. The preparation to the vision of the first seal is in Rev.

And I saw, when the Lamb opened one of the seals Of the sealed book; one of the seven seals of it, as read the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, and the Oriental versions, and the Complutensian edition; that is, the first; so “one” is used for first in ; and as appears from the following seals…

And I saw, and behold a white horse Representing the ministration of the Gospel in the times of the apostles, which were just now finishing, John being the last of them, who saw this vision; and the “horse” being a swift, majestic, and warlike creature, and fearless of opposition and war, may…

And when he had opened the second seal Of the sealed book; that is, the Lamb, as before: I heard the second beast say, come and see; this living creature was the ox, whose situation was on the west side of the throne, as the standard of Ephraim, on which was an ox, was on the west of the camp of…

And there went out another horse, that was red Which may be an emblem either of the suffering state of the church, being answerable to the Smyrnaean one, as the purity and power of the Gospel, represented in the former seal, may answer to the Ephesine church; or else of those contentions and…

And when he had opened the third seal Of the sealed book: I heard the third beast say, come and see; this living creature was that which was like a man, who was on the south side of the throne, as the standard of Reuben, which had the figure of a man, was on the south side of the camp of Israel;…

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, &c.] Not the voice of Agabus to the Apostle Paul, ; but rather of Christ, who was in the midst of them, ; the Ethiopic version adds, “as the voice of an eagle”: a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny;…

And when he had opened the fourth seal Of the seven seals of the sealed book; that is, when the Lamb had opened it, or took it off, as in ; I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see; this living creature was that which was like an eagle, and was on the north side of the throne,…

And I looked, and behold a pale horse An emblem either of the state of the church, pale not with persecution, as some think, for through that it was red; but with the hypocrisy and superstition of many of its members, who were paving the way for the man of sin, and on account of whom the church was…

And when he had opened the fifth seal Of the seven seals of the sealed book; here is no beast speaking here, nor horse and rider presented to view; it was now a very dark time both with respect to the church of God and ministry of the word, and the Roman empire.

And they cried with a loud voice With great ardour and fervency, being very pressing and importunate; and which shows that they were awake, and not asleep, and that the soul does not sleep with the body in the grave, or is after the death of that in a state of insensibility and inactivity, as some…

And white robes were given to everyone of them The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read in the singular number, “a white robe”, and so does the Syriac version; as a token of their innocence, that they did not suffer, or were slain, for any capital crime or immorality they were guilty of; and of…

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal Of the sealed book which the Lamb took out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne, in order to open it, and unloose its seals.

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth All the other inferior deities lost their esteem, worship, and honour; for the idol temples being now opened, the idols and statues were exposed to the common people, and were found to be stuffed with hay and straw, which brought them into great contempt…

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together The manner of writing formerly was on rolls of parchment; hence the word volume is used for a book, which, when rolled up, the writing within could not be seen, not a syllable nor letter of it.

And the king’s of the earth, and the great men The Roman emperors, and other principal magistrates, governors of provinces and cities: and the rich men; among the commonalty; these three may design perhaps more particularly the emperors, nobles, and senate of Rome: and the chief captains; or…

And said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us They chose death rather than life. Dioclesian being invited by Constantine to a marriage feast, excused himself by reason of his old age; but receiving threatening letters, the historian [[18]] says, in which he was charged with having favoured…

For the great day of his wrath is come The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, “of their wrath”; both of him that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb, against the Heathen gods and Heathen persecutors, in answer to the cry of the martyrs in (Rev. 6:9, Rev. 6:10) .