1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the voice, which I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, »Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.«

2 At once I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, with one sitting on the throne.

3 And he who sat there was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.

4 Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

5 From the throne come flashes of lightning, and voices and peals of thunder. And before the throne were seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God;

6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center, around the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.

7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.

8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, »Holy, holy, holy,is the Lord God Almighty,who was and is and is to come.«

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,

10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 »You are worthy, our Lord and our God,to receive glory and honor and power,for you created all things,and by your will they existed and were created.«