Passage

Revelation 7.4

Book: Revelation · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

2. And I saw another angel ascend from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a great voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3. saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we shall have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

4. And I heard the number of them that were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:

Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; 6. Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; (Revelation 7:2-6, ASV)

WEB

2. I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, 3. saying, “Don’t harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!”

4. I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:

of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6. of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, (Revelation 7:2-6, WEB)

KJV

2. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

4. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. (Revelation 7:2-6, KJV)

YLT

2. and I saw another messenger going up from the rising of the sun, having a seal of the living God, and he did cry with a great voice to the four messengers, to whom it was given to injure the land and the sea, saying, 3. 'Do not injure the land, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we may seal the servants of our God upon their foreheads.'

4. And I heard the number of those sealed, (one hundred and forty four thousands were sealed out of all the tribes of the sons of Israel):

of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6. of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; (Revelation 7:2-6, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: John, recording his vision (1:1, 9)
Audience: The seven churches of the Roman province of Asia (1:4, 11)
Location: The island of Patmos, where John was "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" (1:9)
Time period: C. AD 95, near the end of Domitian's reign, following Irenaeus (Against Heresies 5.30.3); a minority of scholars date it to the late 60s

Theological reading

"And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel" (Revelation 7:4, KJV).

A sealed people before the storm. The four winds are held back until God's servants are sealed "in their foreheads" (7:1-3), echoing Ezekiel 9:4, where a mark sets apart those who grieve over Jerusalem's sins.

An unusual tribal list. Twelve thousand are sealed from each of twelve tribes (7:5-8). The list begins with Judah, not the firstborn Reuben. Dan is missing. Joseph and his son Manasseh are both named, while Ephraim is not. No other tribal list in the Bible matches it, which suggests the list is shaped for its message rather than copied from a census.

Heard, then saw. "I heard the number" (7:4); then "I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations" (7:9). The same pattern appears in chapter 5, where John hears of a Lion and turns to see a Lamb. Richard Bauckham and many others read the 144,000 and the multitude as one people described two ways: the Israel of God, counted in full, and the actual company, drawn from every nation. Dispensational interpreters take the 144,000 as ethnic Israelites in the end times.

Not a separate heavenly class. The Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God comparison notes that Witnesses read the number literally while reading the tribes spiritually, and assign the 144,000 a heavenly destiny distinct from the "great crowd." The text places the multitude "before the throne" serving God "in his temple" (7:15). See Luke 12.32 and Revelation 21.1-2.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G5207 - huios, huios, Strong's G5207
G0191 - akouo, akouo, Strong's G0191
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God

Passages:

Luke 12.32

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.