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Revelation 6:7-9
New Catholic Bible
Revelation 6:7-9
New Catholic Bible
7 When he broke open the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature shout, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades[a] followed close behind. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of wild beasts.
The Fifth Seal: Vision of the Martyrs.[b] 9 When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain on account of the word of God and for witnessing to it.
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- Revelation 6:8 Hades: personification of the abode of the dead, i.e., the netherworld (see notes on Rev 1:9-20 and Mt 16:18).
- Revelation 6:9 Persecution is unleashed. The victims, as though immolated in sacrifice, are all reunited around God and already clothed in the garment of joy. This presence of the victims attests that oppression has been lifted on earth. For the people of the Bible possess too great a sense of justice to imagine that such violent injustices as persecutions constitute an indifferent thing in the eyes of God and that they can go unpunished forever. They are like a challenge to God (see Lk 18:7). God must intervene, and bloody persecutions are among the signs of the end (see Mk 13:9-13).
