Revelation 7

7 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 against any tree. ² Then I saw another angel rising from where the sun comes up, holding the seal of our living Father. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power 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 servants of our Father on their foreheads." ⁴ And I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. ^a a v4 The number 144,000 — twelve thousand from each of twelve tribes — is a symbol of completeness, picturing the full people of our Father, not a literal head count. ⁵ From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, ⁶ from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, ⁷ from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, ⁸ from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

A Multitude No One Could Count

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our Father, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

¹¹ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped our Father, ¹² saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might belong to our Father forever and ever! Amen."

¹³ Then one of the elders spoke up, asking me, "These who are clothed in white robes — who are they, and where did they come from?"

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

¹⁵ Therefore they are before the throne of our Father, and they serve him day and night in his temple; and the one seated on the throne will spread his shelter over them. ¹⁶ They will hunger no more and thirst no more; the sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne will shepherd them, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and our Father will wipe away every tear from their eyes. ^b b v17 Our Father himself — not an angel, not a servant — wipes the tears from his children's eyes.