Revelation 6

اقرأ هذا الفصل بقصد

Revelation 6 opens the seven seals of the scroll that only the Lamb was found worthy to take. The first four seals release the four horsemen: a rider on a white horse with a bow, bent on conquest; a red horse whose rider takes peace from the earth; a black horse whose rider carries scales and announces famine prices; and a pale horse ridden by Death with Hades behind him, given power over a fourth of the earth. The fifth seal shows the souls of the martyrs under the altar crying "How long?" and being told to rest a little longer. The sixth seal shakes the cosmos, and everyone from kings to slaves hides in caves, asking who can stand before the wrath of the Lamb.

فتح تفسير الإصحاح

Revelation 6 is where the scroll that made John weep in chapter 5 begins to be opened, and what comes out of it is not a secret about the future but a picture of the world as it is. The Lamb breaks the first seal, one of the four living creatures says "Come," and a rider on a white horse goes out to conquer. Three more follow: a red horse whose rider takes peace from the earth so that people kill one another, a black horse whose rider holds a pair of scales while a voice calls out famine prices, a day's wage for a day's bread, and a pale, corpse-colored horse whose rider is named Death, with Hades following behind. Together they have power over a fourth of the earth. Any reader in the first century knew these riders; they were the news. Then the fifth seal opens and the scene moves from earth to the altar of heaven, where the souls of those killed for their testimony cry out the oldest prayer of the suffering, "How long, O Lord?" They are given white robes and told to rest a little longer, until the number is complete. It is not the answer they wanted, but it is an answer, and it means their deaths were counted. The sixth seal undoes creation itself: earthquake, black sun, blood moon, stars falling like figs, the sky rolled up like a scroll, and every human being from emperor to slave hiding in the rocks from the face of the One on the throne. The chapter ends with a question, who can stand?, and chapter 7 exists to answer it.

مقاطع رئيسية

Revelation 6:1-8 Revelation 6:9-11 Revelation 6:12-17 Zechariah 6:1-8 Revelation 7:9-17 Matthew 24:6-8

Historical and literary context

John wrote from exile on Patmos to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, most likely in the 90s under Domitian, though some place the book in the aftermath of Nero. The horsemen draw on Zechariah 1 and 6, where colored horses patrol the earth for God. The white horse and bow evoked the Parthian mounted archers on Rome's eastern frontier, the one enemy Rome had not defeated. The famine prices, a quart of wheat for a denarius, mean a day's wage for one person's daily bread, many times the normal cost, while oil and wine are spared, a detail some connect with Domitian's edict on vineyards in AD 92. The souls under the altar reflect the blood poured at the base of the temple altar.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 and 2, the first seal: the white horse and its conquering rider. Verses 3 and 4, the second: the red horse and the removal of peace. Verses 5 and 6, the third: the black horse, the scales, and the price of grain. Verses 7 and 8, the fourth: the pale horse, Death and Hades, and a fourth of the earth. Verses 9 to 11, the fifth: the martyrs' cry and the white robes. Verses 12 to 17, the sixth: earthquake, darkened sun, blood-red moon, falling stars, the sky rolled up, and humanity hiding from the throne. The seventh seal waits until chapter 8, after the interlude of chapter 7.

Why this chapter matters

The four horsemen are among the most recognized images in Western culture, borrowed by painters, novelists, and journalists for every age of war, famine, and plague. Read in their setting, they are not a special end-time terror but a description of what human history already looks like when God lets it run: conquest, war, scarcity, death. The martyrs' "How long, O Lord?" gives voice to every sufferer who waits for justice, and the answer, "a little while longer," is the book's honest reply. The closing question, "who is able to withstand it?", is answered by chapter 7's vision of the sealed servants of God.

Interpretive tension to watch

The rider on the white horse has been read as Christ, because of the white horse of 19:11, or as a counterfeit, a conquering power such as Parthia or Rome; the parallel with the other three destructive riders favors the second. Whether the seals describe past events, the whole span of history, or a future tribulation divides the main schools of interpretation. The vengeance the martyrs ask for sits awkwardly beside "love your enemies," and readers have to decide whether the cry is a prayer for God's justice or a wish for revenge.

أسئلة لهذا الفصل

The four horsemen describe conquest, war, famine, and death. Does it change your reading to see them as ordinary history rather than a future catastrophe?
The martyrs ask "How long?" and are told to wait. What does that scene say about unanswered prayers for justice?
The chapter ends with "who is able to withstand it?" How does chapter 7 answer the question?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

أضف للملاحظات

1 내가 보매 어린 양이 일곱 인 중에 하나를 떼시는 그 때에 내가 들으니 네 생물 중에 하나가 우뢰 소리같이 말하되 `오라' 하기로 2 내가 이에 보니 흰 말이 있는데 그 탄 자가 활을 가졌고 면류관을 받고 나가서 이기고 또 이기려고 하더라 3 둘째 인을 떼실 때에 내가 들으니 둘째 생물이 말하되 `오라' 하더니 4 이에 붉은 다른 말이 나오더라 그 탄 자가 허락을 받아 땅에서 화평을 제하여 버리며 서로 죽이게 하고 또 큰 칼을 받았더라 5 세째 인을 떼실 때에 내가 들으니 세째 생물이 말하되 `오라' 하기로 내가 보니 검은 말이 나오는데 그 탄 자가 손에 저울을 가졌더라 6 내가 네 생물 사이로서 나는 듯하는 음성을 들으니 가로되 `한 데나리온에 밀 한 되요 한 데나리온에 보리 석 되로다 또 감람유와 포도주는 해치 말라' 하더라 7 네째 인을 떼실 때에 내가 네째 생물의 음성을 들으니 가로되 `오라' 하기로 8 내가 보매 청황색 말이 나오는데 그 탄 자의 이름은 사망이니 음부가 그 뒤를 따르더라 저희가 땅 사분 일의 권세를 얻어 검과 흉년과 사망과 땅의 짐승으로써 죽이더라 9 다섯째 인을 떼실 때에 내가 보니 하나님의 말씀과 저희의 가진 증거를 인하여 죽임을 당한 영혼들이 제단 아래 있어 10 큰 소리로 불러 가로되 `거룩하고 참되신 대주재여 땅에 거하는 자들을 심판하여 우리 피를 신원하여 주지 아니하시기를 어느 때까지 하시려나이까' 하니 11 각각 저희에게 흰 두루마기를 주시며 가라사대 `아직 잠시 동안 쉬되 저희 동무 종들과 형제들도 자기처럼 죽임을 받아 그 수가 차기까지 하라' 하시더라 12 내가 보니 여섯째 인을 떼실 때에 큰 지진이 나며 해가 총담같이 검어지고 온 달이 피같이 되며 13 하늘의 별들이 무화과 나무가 대풍에 흔들려 선 과실이 떨어지는 것같이 땅에 떨어지며 14 하늘은 종이축이 말리는 것같이 떠나가고 각 산과 섬이 제 자리에서 옮기우매 15 땅의 임금들과 왕족들과 장군들과 부자들과 강한 자들과 각 종과 자주자가 굴과 산 바위 틈에 숨어 16 산과 바위에게 이르되 `우리 위에 떨어져 보좌에 앉으신 이의 낯에서와 어린 양의 진노에서 우리를 가리우라 17 그들의 진노의 큰 날이 이르렀으니 누가 능히 서리요' 하더라